Navigating Retirement Planning is a Different Beast

Retirement isn’t just about saving. It’s about knowing how and when to draw from everything you’ve built.
Shannon Lee Simmons breaks down why this phase of life requires a whole new kind of plan.

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Let’s go to retirement planning. You know, it’s, it’s interesting that people kind of forget the fact that when you’re retired, you have all these sources of income now. Instead of just getting your employer income, your T4, you’ve got pension income, you’re drawing from your RRSP, you maybe drawing from your TFSA, you’ve got CPP, you’ve got OAS.

Navigating all of that and optimizing on the tax front is very challenging. Is that one of the big offerings of a fee only financial planner?

Yes. I mean, I think it’s the offering of any financial planner worth their salt. Um, I think that’s one of the greatest gifts that you can give someone in the retirement planning is how do you pull money out of all these places and when, right. How do you. When do you take the CPP and the old age security?

Do you wait till 70 so you get the boost? How much inflation protected income do you have in your house? What’s that gonna do? The taxes, what’s the clawback? Are you riffing? Are you lifting? Are you TFSA? What is happening? And so you need someone to look at your specific advice, not just something you Google.

Put it all together and see sort of like what’s that sort of optimal place and what makes sense for you too. This is, I often refer to retirement is like a portal because it is one of life’s major life transitions. To go from someone who’s earning and saving to someone who’s no longer earning and you’re withdrawing.

It is really scary to see money come out of your RIFF and that’s your grocery money and your housing money and, and if you hear about stock market volatility, it just can send you into such a tizzy. And so if you know that you’ve got that financial plan and you know what it’s supposed to be, you can.

Like at 3:00 AM you can breathe because you’re like, no, no, this was supposed to happen and I know I’m doing it in the way that makes the most sense.