RETIREMENT PLANNING

Have you though if you have enough financial security to retire? Have you set up a plan to ensure that your needs will be taken care of? At Geraci Financial Group we will sit down with you and help you find and meet all you retirement goals.

Retirement Goals

Everyone has different ideas of what it means to retire, whether it is travelling around the world, moving to the cottage,  playing golf every day or staying at home to spend time with the grandchildren. But if you don't plan for the future, you may not be able to meet your expectations. One of the first steps in retirement planning is determining how much money will be needed to retire. Do you plan to continue the same lifestyle that you are currently living in? Will all you debts be paid off by the time you retire? At what age do you plan to retire and how long do you think your retirement will last, 10 years or 20 years or more? Have you given any though is you are going to need assisted living? Addressing these issues can help you deal with the stress of planning your retirement. At Geraci Financial Group we want you to plan for the retirement you want, let us help you achieve your goals.

Where will my retirement money come from?

Your retirement savings can come from various sources: government pensions, your company pension plan,  and personal savings.

There are two main government pensions that you can receive, Canada Pension Plan (CPP)/ Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) and Old Age Security (OAS). CPP/QPP provide regular payments to people in retirement that have contributed to these plans (or both). Benefit payouts are based on the number of years you’ve worked and your earnings during that time, and are adjusted to keep pace with inflation. Old Age Security (OAS) Funded by the federal government with general tax revenues, this pension program provides a monthly retirement benefit based on your age and the amount of time you’ve lived in Canada. The basic OAS pension is not based on income; it’s a taxable, fully indexed benefit (adjusted quarterly to keep pace with inflation) available to all Canadian residents 65 and older. Your employment history is not a factor in determining eligibility, nor do you have to be “retired” (you can continue to work and still receive the benefit). Your company may help to support your retirement by providing Defined Benefit or Defined Contribution Plans, Group RRSPs or Deferred Profit Sharing Plans.

While the government will provide you with some income and your employer may have some sort of retirement plan set up for you, it may not be enough to retire with they type of lifestyle you wish to live, or even with the lifestyle you are currently living in. This is where the most important source of retirement income comes in, your own personal savings and investments.

You can create your own retirement savings program with “registered” and “non-registered” plans or accounts. The most popular form of retirement savings plan is a Register Retirement Savings Plan. An RRSP is a savings strategy for your retirement that allows you to save on a tax-deferred basis, allowing the money you put into the plan to accumulate with investment income tax-free. With any RRSP, the interest or rate of return on the investment is allowed to grow untaxed until withdrawn. RRSPs let you save for your retirement and help reduce personal income tax. When you withdraw your money after retirement, all withdrawals are fully taxable but your tax rate will likely be lower than during your peak earning years. You can contribute to your RRSP until the end of the year in which you turn 71, as long as you have qualified earned income. By law, you are obliged to collapse your RRSPs by the end of the year in which you reach age 71.  When deciding on an RRSP, ask yourself if it meets your future retirement needs and objectives. Do you understand its features? What are the risks? What is the earnings potential? Are there any fees or costs involved? Depending on the type of plan, there is a wide range of investments that can be held in an RRSP. You can invest in stocks, bonds, guaranteed investment certificates (GICs), mutual funds, treasury bills, mortgages or place your money in a daily-interest savings account.