Canada, debt, economy, retirement

Many boomers in retirement-denial

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35 Comments

In shocking news, it would appear that many Canadian boomer savings levels are below what it would take for a comfortable retirement.

Way back in 2006, about 20% of the boomers that responded to a BMO survey said they were not confident they had enough savings to retire on.

Now?  That’s changed to 46% of boomers who say they don’t have enough to retire on.

Most boomers said they would like to retire at 59, but will need to work until 63.

The plan for many is to take a part time job or sell off belongings.

About 32 per cent expected to sell their home, while another 19 per cent said they will rent out part of their home for additional income.

To Buttigieg, boomers’ ability to save may have been affected by the challenges associated with paying off a mortgage, helping children through university and caring for elderly parents.

Inflation, low returns, living a long life and health issues call also spoil retirement plans, according to Mastracci, but he says one of the biggest problems continues to be debt loads.

“A lot of retirees still have debts (and) they have to clear the deck,” he said.

A recent report from Equifax says a growing number of seniors are taking on more debt to fund retirement lifestyles.

Hat-tip to Many Franks.

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mac

Bull, Furthermore… And the “they” I speak of above, who are emotionallyill-prepared for a decline are the sellers of this great town. (Not the bears). Oh! My favourite OV story. Was it eight months back or maybe a year now this pretty darned interesting looking apartment came up for sale in one of the best buildings in the Village itself. The list was 799K. 2 bed. No closet space. But nice views from every window and tucked away from the hot western sun. Went to see it and, at the time, it was accepted that every place was selling at assessed or a bit less. That was about eight to ten mos. ago, right? Anywho… we went in… asked the agent whether prices were up and down and he weirdly said that they were down and this was a bit… Read more »

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mac

Good observation Bull. No doubt they don’t need to sell. But for some reason they want to sell at prices last seen either never or a year or two ago. And quite frankly at these interest rates no one really needs to sell. They can just rent it out and hope for next year, or the one after that, or the one after that, or the one after that. You can take it, eh, Bull, a bit of truth about our esteemed sellers. I’m thinking you’re a bit less thin=skinned than the bears. They are ill-prepared, emotionally, for any kind of decline. Including a 5% decline, which has happened. Sometimes the sellers are developers who have held back a unit for yonks! Sometimes they are the matching reverse-companions of Looky Lous who really don’t even want to sell. Just want… Read more »

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Village Renter

What’s the current moi

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good-format

In September, 2013
Total sales: 2,535
Total listings: 4,969

Total sales are much higher than last year but still about 2% below 10 year average.

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mls watch

Regarding earthquakes inside the Gerogia Straight, here is an example and possible consequences:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1946_Vancouver_Island_earthquake

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paulb

New Listings 241
Price Changes 150
Sold Listings 136
TI:17245

Sales are up about 55% YOY for Sept. Next month will likely be slower due to the rate hikes.

http://www.paulboenisch.com

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Aggregator

Mortgage rates are still moving up. Table (5YR) http://i.cubeupload.com/bMoPFg.png

Data collected from http://www.canequity.com/tools/mortgage-rates-comparison/

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2.79% 5 yr. NEVER AGAIN

>”I enjoy seeing the same units come online year after year at the same price and then after, say, four years on the market they might drop 2% off or change from or to an Asian friendly number. Haha. That’s funny”

I do too. Every year they stay the same they go down 2.5%. 5 yrs. of flat prices equals a 10-15% reduction in real dollars. As in the last 5 years for condo’s in Vancouver.

Now that’s funny!

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gokou3

LOL, you don’t know what you are talking about. Using your analogy, if you are pouring water into the wrong end of the funnel (narrow size up, wide side down) too quickly, it will back up and spill out, regardless how big the mouth at the other end.

Care about hydraulics?

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Bull! Bull! Bull!

>I enjoy seeing the same units come online year after year at the same price and then after, say, four years on the market they might drop 2% off or change from or to an Asian friendly number. Haha. That’s funny.

it’s almost as if sellers don’t need to sell…

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JohnH

My personal favourite “Flood Destroys Richmond” scenario is The Barrier collapsing, allowing Garibaldi lake to drop into Howe Sound and the resulting wave bouncing off the Gulf Islands and drowns Richmond.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Barrier

Scenario 2 is Mount Baker going like Saint Helens. If enough debris blows out the melted glacier flows into the Fraser watershed and Richmond gets buried in dead trees.

In the mean time, they have good bubble tea.

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Jon Snow

We may see peak inventory today, and that only means one thing: Winter… is… coming.

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mac

As for Breaking Bad, I was a bit disappointed. I wanted everyone who broke bad to die including Skyler and Marie and Jesse, of course. I wanted complete and total destruction of every one and everything. It must be because I’m a bear and spend too much time here learning about un-mitigatable disasters on the horizon. Try to laugh at yourselves bears, it’ll help get through to the Spring.

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mac

God. Is today’s catastrophe flooding? This is dire. In other news, I enjoy seeing the same units come online year after year at the same price and then after, say, four years on the market they might drop 2% off or change from or to an Asian friendly number. Haha. That’s funny.

There’s also this clown in Kits Point who must be very well known to agents. He puts his unit on the market always 20% above what he could possibly get. He’s nuts about his house, his colours, his furniture. He’s the King of Orange paint. Hopefully, he’s Dutch. And never does it sell. Although a few agents have listed it a “sold” on their websites before taking the listing down. Nice trick. Never gets old.

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LOL

also, richmond knows that an earthquake is possible and they’ve been taking steps to minimize the impact for decades.

sorry but your dreams of richmond disappearing from the face of the earth aren’t going to come true.

the biggest danger i see to richmond in the event of a quake are asian grannies hoarding supplies and creating artificial shortages. the grab all you can as fast as you can mentality is the biggest danger faced by richmond.

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LOL

@Flooding risk from spring melt is still valid.

no it isn’t. as someone else mentioned richmond is at the mouth of the fraser. it is in fact at BOTH mouths of the fraser.

spring melt flooding happens because water is coming in at a faster rate then it is leaving. this causes the river level to rise. if this continues the river level will rise higher than the banks and flood.

unless there is some unnatural event ( like nuclear explosion ) it is impossible for water to flow in at faster than it leaves because the mouth of the fraser can handle a greater volume than further up stream.

you are basically pouring water throw the wrong end of a funnel. if it can enter the narrow end it can’t get backed up. it’s just impossible.

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unlimited

January 1, 2013 marked the last day I held any debt. I effectively retired on this day.

Debt service is a type of slavery, often self imposed, but slavery none the less. Humanity (the Sumerian version) was hard wired to be this way.

The bigger story is that you can’t have an increase in debt without an increase in assets. Where is the increase in assets?

If you look a little closer at the Revenue Canada web site, there are clues. Assets are now created at the flick of the wrist. This is especially relevant for municipalities, who are encourage to unlock ‘common area’ assets from inspired, unlimited ingenuity banksterism.

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Laurey

“Today, the Joneses are broke and it’s mostly their own fault.”

you should also put in disclosure the following: “Real Wages in Canada has not increased since 1970’s”

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Dr N

The city of Richmond does operate a set of pumping stations according to its website (http://www.richmond.ca/safety/prepare/city/hazards/flood.htm), but it appears they do not pump continuously. No mention is made of whether there are back-up generators in case of power failure, but it seems likely there are. In case of a major earthquake though (“the big one”) these flood control measures won’t mean much. But, hey, that might not happen for centuries.

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Sailor55

#7 Laurey

I retired in 2007 at the age of 56. I spent most of my life planning to be done in the workforce by my mid-fifties.

My goal was NOT accomplished by taking seriously silly bank slogans like “Freedom 55” and “You’re Richer Than You Think”.

One must plan their finances meticulously from the start and continually monitor progress along the way making necessary adjustments.

The main thing I learned: Wealth is best used to bring freedom of choice, not freedom to buy overpriced goods and services in a pointless attempt to keep up with the Joneses.

Today, the Joneses are broke and it’s mostly their own fault.

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chilled

“…………while another 19 per cent said they will rent out part of their home for additional income.”

++++++++++++++++++++

Funny. This, from the generation that functioned with an air of superiority, imagined importance, over embellished technical knowledge and a penchant for unjustly telling others what to do.

I predict many more “police incidents” and “elder abuse” to be the result of this rental arrangement.

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Softy

“that work 24*7*365 days to keep water out”

Any reference for this?

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Snake

Slowing housing market puts pinch on reno projects

http://globalnews.ca/news/872361/home-reno-spending-set-to-taper-over-next-few-years-report-says/

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tyler

Vulture Boy:

Now wiki “Dikes”. Find out what they’re used for and when they were built.

Thus is the same problem with bear arguments. Find one thing in isolation and start screaming “flood” or “crash”.

Me thinks it is low IQ.

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tyler

LOL

I could swear Bears are misreading (trouble comprehending) your post. Lol

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