What is your monthly income in retirement?
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We are in the same boat. About two thirds of our income is reinvested.
Shifting from a lifetime of austerity, saving, working like an idiot, makes it very difficult to transition to more free spending in retirement. For me, I spent too little during my working years. There are trips I could have taken but didn't because they seemed pricey. Should have done more of that.
I apologize for not voting but I don't share this info.
I will share that we are spending more now than we ever have and it looks like we will be able to increase this dramatically. Again, keep in mind we are transitioning from a life of austerity. We just picked up a new car to replace a 14 year old car (still functioning perfectly).
We are about two years away from retirement and it will certainly be an adjustment going from saving to spending. We plan to ease into it as well as our retirement income will be higher than our current spend. We will be cautious, but at the same time, we want to make sure we enjoy the benefits of all those years of saving by spending more on travel, making our day to day life easier, gifting, donating, etc.
We spent 2% of our portfolios in 2020 and will increase to 2.5% in 2022.
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Income now is higher than it was for 95% of my years of employment, and will continue unless my RRIF manager screws up.
Which means that using the RRSP was a mistake, but thinking at the time was - "How much will I save without an RRSP" - Answer; very little.
Which means that using the RRSP was a mistake, but thinking at the time was - "How much will I save without an RRSP" - Answer; very little.
I am 76 and my spouse is 72. As we age we are discovering that we don't need the income we are getting and as a result we are doing more giving and continue ti invest excess income. We could buy more things but the reality is we are trying to get rid of things . We are content with what we are doing.
Ditto for us. At 70 last thing we need is more shiny things. We spent a number of years downsizing. Now complete we are trying to ensure that this accumulation business does not get the better of us. We still have china/crystal glasses in unopened boxes from our move 12 years ago. It can be a challenge when you have some basement storage space. Too easy to avoid making a decision.
The more years we get into retirement the more our thoughts and our desires turn to experiences rather than things. Given a choice between something like a new car or an extended trip to Africa, Australia ,or SE Asia, etc. we will take the travel in a heartbeat.
My spouse still laughs about this. When we first met she had hardly been west of Toronto or east of Ottawa.
Good discussion for us young guys to read.
I am always wondering what to do in the "spend now vs. spend later" decisions, as a 30-something.
It does sound like many are advocating, in hindsight, a live well during your 30s-60s and live adequately during your later years approach, instead of the reverse.
If I don't lose my job and I get an inheritance that's worth "a whole house" by age 60, i.e., the status-quo and most likely scenario, then we're going to be exceptionally well off by my early retirement at age 55.
Even if I lose my job and the inheritance is very small for some reason, we'll be perfectly fine as long as me and/or my wife have some OK job, enough to pay the bills for the next 25 years, we just won't be rich.
The only way to get in real trouble is perpetual under employment forever, for both spouses, and no inheritances at all.
Anyways my kids are under 3, so it really doesn't matter yet right now. But I constantly wonder what type of experiences and lifestyle I want for them from age 5-18... I really don't want to end up in this CMF $15k/month retirement club and regret it.
I am always wondering what to do in the "spend now vs. spend later" decisions, as a 30-something.
It does sound like many are advocating, in hindsight, a live well during your 30s-60s and live adequately during your later years approach, instead of the reverse.
If I don't lose my job and I get an inheritance that's worth "a whole house" by age 60, i.e., the status-quo and most likely scenario, then we're going to be exceptionally well off by my early retirement at age 55.
Even if I lose my job and the inheritance is very small for some reason, we'll be perfectly fine as long as me and/or my wife have some OK job, enough to pay the bills for the next 25 years, we just won't be rich.
The only way to get in real trouble is perpetual under employment forever, for both spouses, and no inheritances at all.
Anyways my kids are under 3, so it really doesn't matter yet right now. But I constantly wonder what type of experiences and lifestyle I want for them from age 5-18... I really don't want to end up in this CMF $15k/month retirement club and regret it.
We did not travel during covid. We have been watching the numbers. The numbers and the practices are scary to us in some countries.
We are going to Portugal next month. The plan was originally to the Greek Islands, with Portugal a runner up. We took a hard look at the covid numbers and decided on Portugal. Maybe Greece in the fall. At the end of the day it is a crap shoot either way.
Our other issue was where to change planes. Not particularly interested in a UK or a US plane change. For us that implies a change in Toronto or Montreal We would do a day stopover in either city to visit relatives. Then we want direct flight to our destination country.
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Well I don't think anyone truly regrets $15K/month. However, it is hard in the middle of adult hood to find balance. Demands of family, work all clash. And you could be doing everything right, but still pull the short straw and lose it all. Being prepared hurts current lifestyle, but I don't regret making tough choices early on----rather I took them as challenges. For the responsible types, its only through the review mirror that you could say "I should have spent more". But that is only hindsight.
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