Mar 27, 2017
Pattie Lovett-Reid: Want a happy retirement? Stop trying to keep up with the Joneses
We need to face the facts: at some point, we are all going to retire.
There will come a time where your financial capital (your savings) takes over from where your human capital (the ability to go out and earn a living) leaves off.
Kurt Rosentreter, a prominent adviser in the Toronto area, is outraged by the number of Canadians who live a remarkable life, travelling, employ nannies for much longer than they would typically need them, live and shop in the tony neighbourhoods — all while earning $250,000 a year and yet not saving nearly enough for retirement.
On a certain level, I get it. You can afford your lifestyle today. But I’m worried about your lifestyle tomorrow. Things can slide when you have a salary coming in, shortfalls can be made up next pay. All is great as long as you have your high-paying job. Where this gets dangerous is when the job comes to an end and you potentially face a dismal retirement. Not exactly the golden years you had envisioned. It is fundamentally wrong to think spending today as if there is tomorrow is the right financial strategy for anyone no matter how much money you currently make.
Sometimes I wonder if we don’t already know this and simply don’t care as we try to keep up with the Joneses, who are also broke.
Manulife conducted a survey and found that Canadians’ financial stress levels continues to affect their health, with almost half of Canadians financially unwell, stressed, worried and five time less likely to engage regularly in any healthy activities. Money is a huge stressor and financial wellness is often driven by how well we budget, plan for retirement, handle our debt situation etc . Feeling financially out of control can impact your mental health and that leads to absenteeism rates and lost productivity and a general sense of miserableness. No one likes to feel out of control.
Our retirement could represent a third of our life and who doesn’t want to live a healthy lifestyle in retirement? According to Manulife, you are more likely to engage in healthy activities, have a healthier diet and say your health is excellent when you are financially fit.
Bottom line: You can live well and retire well, but neither will result in a great retirement if you haven’t saved some money to fund it. At the end of the working day, sadly, you will have no one to blame but yourself if you could have afforded to save and you simply chose not to.
