{"id":87616,"date":"2025-08-22T01:58:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T01:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/87616\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T01:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T01:58:12","slug":"after-being-forced-into-freedom-55-this-retiree-says-diy-investing-helped-with-his-financial-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/87616\/","title":{"rendered":"After being forced into \u2018Freedom 55,\u2019 this retiree says DIY investing helped with his financial security"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael Smith, pictured at Sutton Glen Park in Kelowna, B.C., retired unexpectedly in 1996 when his company was being sold.Aaron Hemens\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

In Tales from the Golden Age, retirees talk about their spending, savings and whether life after work is what they expected. For more articles in this series, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael Smith, 85, Kelowna, B.C. <\/p>\n

I retired in 1996 at age 55 after working as a vice-president at London Life. I got \u2018Freedom 55,\u2019 the company\u2019s famous marketing slogan, but it was essentially a golden handshake as the company was being sold and needed to eliminate middle management positions. It was entirely unexpected and not something I wanted, especially since it meant a 25-per-cent reduction in my pension.<\/p>\n

Although I didn\u2019t have much time to prepare financially for retirement, I had saved and invested consistently during my working years. I was also able to roll over $72,000 from my $250,000 settlement into my RRSP, which, in retrospect, was one of the best things I ever did, as my pension isn\u2019t indexed to inflation. <\/p>\n

As news of my retirement spread, one of my real estate developer clients approached me to try to establish a mortgage investment fund with another partner who would do the day-to-day administration. Using my connections in the industry, I helped them raise $1-million to start it. <\/p>\n

I stayed with the fund for 11 years \u2013 during which time I considered myself partially retired. I was able to start travelling the world with my wife while also approving financings and other matters via fax from wherever I was at the time. I eventually sold out my position in the fund to the operating partner in 2007, just before the 2008 global financial crisis.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t worry about money in retirement because of my decades of investing. I\u2019m an active investor and manage my own portfolio. I\u2019ve survived several major downturns, including the global financial crisis, the pandemic drop and the drop in April this year. Thankfully, most of these drops were short-lived.<\/p>\n

I have been retired for 30 years, and my spouse and I have travelled extensively, including across most of Canada and the United States in two different 40-foot motorhomes. That was earlier in our retirement years. We\u2019ve also taken ocean and river cruises to most areas of the world. We enjoy spending winters in a resort community in the Phoenix area. It enables me to play tennis, golf and bike year-round.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also volunteered in various capacities for organizations such as the Canadian Mental Health Association, RCMP Victim Services, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Alzheimer\u2019s Society of Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society. <\/p>\n

My advice to those heading into retirement is to try to find a reason to get out of bed and get going every morning. Having some hobbies and being physically active is important. Also, if you plan to travel outside of Canada, be sure to get medical insurance \u2013 which we\u2019ve done \u2013 or you could wind up spending a lot of your hard-earned money on health care costs. <\/p>\n

On the money side, I recommend having a financial plan. Also, if you have the interest and motivation, consider managing your own investments. You\u2019ll have more time to do the research and take care of your own portfolio. Of course, it\u2019s not for everyone.<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

Are you a Canadian retiree interested in discussing what life is like now that you\u2019ve stopped working? The Globe is looking for people to participate in its Tales from the Golden Age feature, which examines the personal and financial realities of retirement. If you\u2019re interested in being interviewed for this feature and agree to use your full name and have a photo taken, please e-mail us at: goldenageglobe@gmail.com<\/a>. Please include a few details about how you saved and invested for retirement and what your life is like now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Michael Smith, pictured at Sutton Glen Park in Kelowna, B.C., retired unexpectedly in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[5267,1397,45,49,48,133,5266,131,132,17560],"class_list":{"0":"post-87616","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-advisor-noregwall","9":"tag-appwebview","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-finance","14":"tag-globe-advisor","15":"tag-personal-finance","16":"tag-personalfinance","17":"tag-tftga"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}