{"id":242015,"date":"2026-01-16T22:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T22:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/242015\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T22:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T22:30:13","slug":"funding-retirement-comes-down-to-three-words-forecast-plan-and-adapt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/242015\/","title":{"rendered":"Funding retirement comes down to three words: forecast, plan and adapt"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Careful savings habits have helped Theresa Nguyen (right), here with her daughter Zoonie, to enjoy a rewarding retirement.Supplied\/Rhiannon Murray-Leung<\/p>\n

In Calgary\u2019s Silver Springs neighbourhood, Karen Kirnbauer, 70, isn\u2019t easing into retirement. She\u2019s making pickleball schedules, coordinating e-bike outings, and organizing other activities to ensure local seniors stay social and active. \u201cI like to be busy,\u201d she says. \u201cI am not a \u2018sit around with your feet up\u2019 kind of person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Kirnbauer is the secretary and director of seniors\u2019 resources and engagement at the Silver Springs Community Association, a volunteer role she took on after retiring from a 46-year nursing career. Her ability to pour time and energy into this work is partly thanks to financial choices she and her husband made before retirement. <\/p>\n

While neither of them had a high income (her husband did inside sales for an electrical company), they never overextended themselves. Frugal savings habits during their working lives have enabled the couple to now travel two or three times a year. So far, they\u2019ve visited countries in Asia, Europe and Central America, always keeping an eye out for hotel and flight deals. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re living a good life,\u201d Ms. Kirnbauer says. \u201cI feel very fortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funding the best retirement takes careful planning. Yet in 2024, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada reported that just 32 per cent of non-retirees had a good understanding of how much they needed to save for retirement. And of current retirees, 41 per cent said their financial standard of living is lower than anticipated. <\/p>\n

To avoid a disconnect between objectives and financial means, forecasting is critical, says Lloyd Wright, a Toronto-based senior associate in wealth planning and associate portfolio manager at Canaccord Genuity. <\/p>\n

He urges his clients, no matter how young, to anticipate their financial shape using the Government of Canada\u2019s free retirement income calculator<\/a> as a useful first step. It lets users set their income goal, enter information about income and savings, and check income estimates from the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security Pension and other sources. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to make conscious decisions about where your money\u2019s going,\u201d says Mr. Wright. <\/p>\n

Ottawa-based Ali Oloumi retired in 2016 after a career in finance, with a company pension as well as his own savings and investments. He advises other retirees to build out a yearly budget, \u201cto take the worry of spending out of the equation.\u201d <\/p>\n

Just months after he stepped away from work, his granddaughter was born. He also finally had the time to build a house on a piece of land he owns in Turkey. With his finances under control, Mr. Oloumi fills his days with his loved ones, as well as managing his properties, and walking around 12 kilometres every other day. \u201cI\u2019m not bored,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Mr. Wright notes that just as the working years have phases \u2013 getting married, having kids, getting promoted \u2013 retirement has stages too. The difference? You\u2019re spending instead of earning, he says. That makes it important to understand how retirement is a journey with evolving needs and opportunities, and to adapt accordingly. <\/p>\n

For instance, he says retirees typically spend more in the early years of retirement, when they\u2019re more likely to travel and pursue other active interests. Later in retirement, some people may encounter health or mobility issues that curtail activity, but increase costs associated with care. <\/p>\n

Some expenses can be unpredictable. \u201cIf you want to have a good retirement, you need to save money,\u201d says Theresa Nguyen, 88, of Montreal.<\/p>\n

She arrived in Canada as a refugee from Vietnam in the 1970s, and spent her career operating industrial sewing machines as part of a manufacturing company making winter jackets. Together with her husband, Ms. Nguyen raised eight children. Spending only on necessities, the couple were able to buy a house after only six years in Canada, and later put their children through university. <\/p>\n

Those same savings habits meant that, in retirement, Ms. Nguyen has been able to travel across Europe and Asia, supported by her and her late husband\u2019s pensions. She\u2019s still a globetrotter, most recently visiting loved ones in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

With Canadians living longer, outliving your money is another common concern. Ms. Kirnbauer says her husband worries about longevity. What happens if they live to 100 and need more money? <\/p>\n

To combat that anxiety, Mr. Wright advises his clients to add different scenarios into their financial forecasting. \u201cYou can build as many \u2018what ifs?\u2019 into the model as you want.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ms. Kirnbauer feels confident that she and her husband will have enough money to see them through. That said, knowing how to spend in retirement doesn\u2019t always come easy. Her son gifted her Die With Zero, a book by Bill Perkins, which argues against over-saving for retirement. The goal isn\u2019t to die rich, but to spend to enjoy experiences while you\u2019re alive. \u201cYou don\u2019t pinch every penny, but you don\u2019t go ridiculously crazy either,\u201d Ms. Kirnbauer says. \u201cIt\u2019s a fine balance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Careful savings habits have helped Theresa Nguyen (right), here with her daughter Zoonie,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[7400,114,268,3833,130203,85,46,14093,130202,266,267,687,688,82642],"class_list":{"0":"post-242015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-adveditorial","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-finances","12":"tag-financialplans","13":"tag-il","14":"tag-israel","15":"tag-noastack","16":"tag-ordid3856643712edit3","17":"tag-personal-finance","18":"tag-personalfinance","19":"tag-planning","20":"tag-retirement","21":"tag-retirementincome"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}