What is your target retirement age?

[FrugalTrader]

Lets kick off the new retirement forum with a question. What is your target retirement age?

I don't have a set age for retirement, however, my goal is to have enough passive income to cover our family expenses. At that point, I will have serious discussions with my wife about my work direction. I would say that it will be some time in my mid-late 40's.

How about you? Do you have a target retirement age?

[mfd]

My retirement age is 55. Thats arounds the same time my fiance can collect her full pension. At that point if we have kids they'll be out the house and we'll still have the energy to travel

I also wanted to add I want to open a B and B to be able to earn some extra income and to be able to travel during the off season.

[Jon Chevreau]

I like to make the distinction between Retirement per se and Financial Independence. That of course is the premise of my financial novel, Findependence Day, and of the prior poster's concept of "My Findependence Day."

Face it, after the Crash, very few baby boomers will be "retiring" any time soon. But they may have a baseline of financial independence -- call it Findependence 57 or Findependence 62, whatever -- around which they will consult, write, blog, tweet, paint, compose, play for pay etc. They will turn avocations into vocations and find a way to earn additional stream of income.

Traditional employment with a single source of income will likely fade but very few will "retire" in the classical sense.

More on this of course in the book: www.financialpost.com/fd

Or www.findependenceday.com

[stephenheath]

Maybe I'm being too conservative, but I can't see how I could possibly retire before age 65... actually, considering the setback of last year's drop in the market, at the moment I'm looking at 66. My family history is lots of people that live well into their 90's, with the exception being those who got cancer from smoking which I never did, so my plan is not to retire until I would have enough saved that I could live entirely off the interest/dividends because the principal would be the only emergency fund I'd ever have and it potentially would have to last a LONG time. Assuming an average 3% inflation rate for the next 28 years (I'm 38 now), I figure that means I'd need about $2.4 million in 2037 dollars to be able to retire with the current standard of living, not counting the paid off house. I'm assuming an average 6% return (3% after inflation) to be conservative, and assuming CPP/OAS will be drained by the time I get there.

It's barely doable and that's with a significant amount of our income going to savings (and mortgage payments at the moment, but when the mortgage is done those same payments will shift to savings). I would love to retire at 45, or 55... I'd just worry that I'd run out of money at 80 and live my last 15 years in poverty.

[Patricia]

I have been retired for 2 years but did have a target in mind when I was working. My target was 55 but I didn't realize my target until I was 57. I contributed to a defined benefit plan (HOOPP) while working for 35 years and so have been fortunate. Several reasons contributed to my decision to delay my retirement. The primary reason was that we wanted the mortgage paid off. The second reason was that we had a daughter in university in Nova Scotia( she graduates this April). We paid off the mortgage and then I retired.
My husband still works part time and it has been his wages which funded our daughter's education. Now that he is free of that responsibility he has decided that he will scale back a little on his hours but continue to work for another couple of years until he is 65
( this is not a high income job he has). Next year I will start collecting CPP and we plan to use it to fund our TFSA's. He is already collecting his CPP which isn't much as he was the stay at home parent for many years but the combination of both CPP pensions should allow us to fully fund our
The advent of pension income splitting has been very helpful in reducing our taxes owing and we still have room for RRSP contributions.
When I retired I told my husband who was very concerned that we could manage on my pension that I was determined 'to make this work'. So far so good.

[Sampson]

I have always thought of it as a target for FULL retirement, however, I'm starting to realize that 'partial' retirement is more reasonable.

We are quite on track to reach full retirement by 55, with no help from external sources - with a pool of $2.4M in liquid assets.

I'm really starting to reconsider, and think that we could maybe work 30-50% of the time when we reach 45-50 or so. This way, we could slowly ramp down the amount of work, and eventually retire fully when we are older (65-70). This would give us 20 years of 'living it up' - working at what we enjoy - and having plenty of time to spend with kids and our hobbies.

Seems a lot more complicated to model this type of retirement though. I'd hate to HAVE to go back to work later because I planned it poorly.

[mesaana14]

Let me start by saying I have a defined-benefit pension (I'm a federal govt employee). I started a bit late, but I get my full pension at 60 (providing I stay at my job, which is not certain, but let's just say I do for now). I started saving only a couple of years ago, so I don't have a lot put aside yet, but I'm hoping to retire at 55, and not have to touch my government pension until I turn 60 (which should be doable). By the way, I'm turning 40 in a few weeks.

I'm trying to balance putting money away and enjoying life now. My father had to retire from work early due to health issues and did not get to enjoy his retirement much until his death. I want to make sure that I have a fair chance of being young and healthy enough to enjoy retirement and take some time to travel and do other things now, because you never know...

[DrStan]

Unless the world collapses around us, it will be at age 56, on March 11, 2033. Seems like far away, but really, it isn't. Only about 8800 days left! I should put a countdown calendar in my office... it would be a hoot!

[Rickson9]

My wife and I do not have a particular target retirement age. So far, we enjoy working. We're young, however, and you know how things change with time...

[Retireat50]

Well, I am one of the lucky ones with less than a year and a half away from retirement at 50 and have an indexed defined benefit plan. With our additional savings both registered and non registered I don't see myself putting it off past this date.:)

[jambo411]

In 52 months and 17 days on my 59th birthday. It is the earliest that I can retire without a penalty on my DB pension. This "retirement" means that I will only have to work at my three home businesses. This will drop my hours from 50+ a week to about 20. Lots of time left to fish, motorcycle, fish and travel to fish.:)

[Hazelnut]

I DO have a countdown clock on my blog and right now its reading 1907 days, 12 hours and 6 minutes, give or take :p AND I'm taking an early retirement because $$ isn't that important to me. Like others here have mentioned it doesn't mean I'll never work again, in fact 1 or 2 days of supply teaching per month would more than make up the difference in my reduced pension. Or I could work part-time at Chapters and take advantage of their discounts and free book-loaning to staff, or I might raise bees or alpacas, or indulge my creative side as a woodcarving potterymaking phototaking artiste (currently hobbies). Who knows? That's the joy of it!

[2 yen]

Jon....totally agree and am looking forward to your future writings. My goal is age 50.

[Hampton N/S]

My husband and I are 50 next year- so retirement is a more relevant topic to us now than it has ever been.
we hope to retire from full time work at 60.
we both enjoy our work - and do not feel that will be a chore. we expect to work some part time afterwards as well.
we started our family later than many so our youngest won't be through university for 9 yrs from now - and we plan to cover most of those expenses for an undergrad degree.
I have a small DB pension from 11 yrs federal service, my husband is self-employed and only has max rrsp's for 20yrs, and what is there for OAS and CPP. Our pre-retirement cf will allow for more savings and investments pre-60.

[ethos1]

I DO have a countdown clock on my blog and right now its reading 1907 days, 12 hours and 6 minutes, give or take :p AND I'm taking an early retirement because $$ isn't that important to me.

that is so cool.

I thought that I was the only one who did that

I don't know which one it is that you use, but I use the following which is on my desktop & with just one click away, at times is a great stress reliever for me

http://www.timeanddate.com/counters/customcount.html

Like your attitude on the $$ not being that important.

Enjoy life to the fullest:D

[Mintycake]

My goal is to actually "retire" from the rat race at age 37. We're planning to start a family and I figure that's when my mat leave will be up, at which point I don't plan to return to full time work. I haven't decided whether I will stay at home full time but right now part time work is the goal, with eventual full retirement at 55.

[Jon Chevreau]

There's another aspect to this topic, which is how much you enjoy your job/work. The original concept of Retirement is a relic of the industrial age, when people's bodies wore out and could not indefinitely sustain hard physical work, like farming or mining.

In the information age, many of us are so-called "symbol manipulators" -- journalists, executives, creative artists, novelists, screenplayers, musicians etc. Those who truly enjoy their work aren't too worried about doing it into old age. Richard Russell still publishes his Dow Theory Letters well into his 80s because he enjoys it. I have an aunt of a similar age who still goes into the law office she owns five days a week: it's her life. I know a 92 year old at church who still works part-time in accounting.

If your job is so soul-destroying that all you can think of is escaping it some far day in the future, perhaps you should rethink your attitude to work and that particular job and find a new profession you can truly enjoy.

We're a long time working. Life is too short to work at something you hate.
Again, this theme of enjoying your work is part of the book you can find here: www.financialpost.com/fd

[Retireat50]

There's another aspect to this topic, which is how much you enjoy your job/work. The original concept of Retirement is a relic of the industrial age, when people's bodies wore out and could not indefinitely sustain hard physical work, like farming or mining.

In the information age, many of us are so-called "symbol manipulators" -- journalists, executives, creative artists, novelists, screenplayers, musicians etc. Those who truly enjoy their work aren't too worried about doing it into old age. Richard Russell still publishes his Dow Theory Letters well into his 80s because he enjoys it. I have an aunt of a similar age who still goes into the law office she owns five days a week: it's her life. I know a 92 year old at church who still works part-time in accounting.

If your job is so soul-destroying that all you can think of is escaping it some far day in the future, perhaps you should rethink your attitude to work and that particular job and find a new profession you can truly enjoy.

We're a long time working. Life is too short to work at something you hate.
Again, this theme of enjoying your work is part of the book you can find here: www.financialpost.com/fd

Sorry, but reading Jon's last post, really seems to not match the reality of the majority of people working out there who are working to make a living at what will pay the bills and feed the family. If it were so easy to "find a new profession you can truly enjoy", that would be great, but truly not reality.

While true, the original concept of retirement was due to the fact that our bodies may have wore out physically, but now the stress of modern day life may in fact wear us out even more effectively.

[Mintycake]

I agree with the previous poster. Jon's arguement is one that my husband and I have had. "why don't you just find a job you love?" because the job that I would probably want to do would put us at a poverty level of income and by the way dear, you do enjoy living in a house and our vacations and our car?
So in order to compromise we've cut down our spending considerably and plan to cut down even more once I've changed career tracks. However, with me being the higher earning spouse right now, I've warned him that a shift in job, though it might make me look forward to my employment moreso than now, will come with the attachment that our lifestyle will change.

I know this because my husband gave up his soul sucking corporate job 4 years ago to start his own business. He loves his job. His income is variable. He's learned to live with it.

[George]

I honestly have no idea when I'll truly "retire" in the sense of stopping work. I'm only 31, and for the time being I'm happy to focus on raising a family and maintaining a good work-life balance. I'll stop work when it feels right for me, and I don't really expect to know when it's "right" until I get to my 40s and 50s.

Of course, that doesn't mean that I'm not working hard to create the possibility of retiring - "findependence" as Jon Chevreau calls it. For that, my goal is to reach findependence day by age 50-53 or so. I'm lucky enough to have a government pension that will max out when I hit age 58, but I'd like to have enough invested to walk away with my savings and a reduced pension at age 50 if I choose to do so.

[michika]

Like George mentioned, I'd like to be able to have enough set aside and invested to just "walk away" at 40. I doubt I'd ever truely retire in the true sense of the word, but I'd crave change, and I'd always want to be busy.

Most likely though I'll have a magic number of sorts, and I'll keep working at it until it becomes a reality.

[johnsazzr]

in 10 yrs by age 51..I may still work p/t ...but I wan't to be in control..thank goodness I am not in a DB Pension Plan...and also that my RSP is pretty conservative..only down 10%.....

[brocko]

in 10 yrs by age 51..I may still work p/t ...but I wan't to be in control..thank goodness I am not in a DB Pension Plan...and also that my RSP is pretty conservative..only down 10%.....

I say thank goodness I am in a DB. While nothing is impossible I know our plan is fully funded and with the nature of business I am in I feel quite confident all will be well. I am neither a teacher nor a government worker. Our DB plan switched over to a optional DC plan with a core DB of 1% and without having to stop at 35 years of service. I have now 33 years in the old DB and I am hoping for 3-4 years in the new core plan to supplement my main DB pension.
I have not begun to think of retirement as really I do love my job and all that goes with it. I think I am one of those who will be in trouble not financially but with nothing to do such as hobbies I will be really lost once the house painting and back yard work is done. I may go into some form of advisor or consultant work to keep busy but it wouldn't be for the money.

[Tim]

FI Target = 45 (+/-5 years depending on the market).

I have a low cost lifestyle and it's easy to keep my happy for the most part. I'll likely keep 'working' post FI, but more for I like doing some of my hobbies and happen to make money at them.

I keep my target date firm, but I understand life happens so hence the huge +/- range.

Tim

[Mockingbird]

Definitely on target to "Freedom 55", but aiming for 50 to slow down. Slowing down is pretty much depend on the market condition of the next 10+ years. We do not have any pension plans aside from RRSP, investments, and personal savings. CPP and OAP are bonus if we get them.

[Spidey]

I'm also aiming at freedom 55, providing my poor battered portfolio survives the next 5 years. I would consider working to 60, if the small company I work for wasn't so inflexible with holidays and time off.

[Dividend Growth Investor]

I actually plan on never fully retiring. I could retire this year, but I enjoy working and keeping myself active on projects.
Watching TV and doing nothing is fun for a couple of months, untill you can no longer stand leisure time and crave working.

[Retireat50]

In my opinion, if you have everything paid off and you cannot do well in retirement with 60 to 70 percent of pre retirement income, there are spending issue that need to be addressed.

[Four Pillars]

I have a loose plan to retire at 55 but given all the assumptions in any future planning - it's not written in stone.

[cannon_fodder]

My wife and I are early-mid forties and we'd like to be findependent at 55, or almost 12 years from now.

At this point, we have both had excellent health records so we believe that, as we watch others around us, we won't retire at 55 but do more volunteer work, and perhaps have an easy part-time job. What neither of us want is to be burdened like my our parents were as full time nannies. Grandparents, sure, but surrogate parents, no!

We are forecasting these plans based on having our fair share of CPP + OAS. If OAS and CPP don't come through, we still should be OK with our RRSP's, TFSA's and non-registered portfolio.

[Grampy]

My wife and I are going to retire at when I turn 61, I'm 60 now. We are debt free, no morgage, loans, or credit cards. We have managed to save enough to provide a income of 50k per year.

[FrugalTrader]

My wife and I are going to retire at when I turn 61, I'm 60 now. We are debt free, no morgage, loans, or credit cards. We have managed to save enough to provide a income of 50k per year.

Grampy, I'd be interested to see your calculations on how you came to the $50k per year. Are you using the 4% withdrawal rule?

[Rickson9]

My wife and I are going to retire at when I turn 61, I'm 60 now. We are debt free, no morgage, loans, or credit cards. We have managed to save enough to provide a income of 50k per year.

Very nice! Congrats!

[Grampy]

My thoughts on how I came to 50k per year.
we saved about 850k rrsp and cash
I am eligble for 7.5K from cpp
My wife will be eligible for about 4.5k in two years
We will both recieve oas at 65
Wewill draw down some of the princible in the early years of retirement and reduce the amount as government pensions become available. we are using about 4.5 growth in the beginning and reducing later on.
We can suvive on about 22K, after taxes currently if we had to.
Looking foward to retirement A bad day fishing beats a good day at work!!!

[FrugalTrader]

My thoughts on how I came to 50k per year.
we saved about 850k rrsp and cash
I am eligble for 7.5K from cpp
My wife will be eligible for about 4.5k in two years
We will both recieve oas at 65
Wewill draw down some of the princible in the early years of retirement and reduce the amount as government pensions become available. we are using about 4.5 growth in the beginning and reducing later on.
We can suvive on about 22K, after taxes currently if we had to.
Looking foward to retirement A bad day fishing beats a good day at work!!!

Looks like your retirement is in great shape, congrats and thanks for sharing.

[ethos1]

My thoughts on how I came to 50k per year.
we saved about 850k rrsp and cash
I am eligble for 7.5K from cpp
My wife will be eligible for about 4.5k in two years
We will both recieve oas at 65
Wewill draw down some of the princible in the early years of retirement and reduce the amount as government pensions become available. we are using about 4.5 growth in the beginning and reducing later on.
We can suvive on about 22K, after taxes currently if we had to.
Looking foward to retirement A bad day fishing beats a good day at work!!!

"My thoughts on how I came to 50k per year"

Tut-tut:p

[steve41]

When I ran those numbers, I came up with just over $52K ATI. Pretty close.

Mind you, that was living in BC. If you are in Quebec, you come in at $48.8K

Go west young man!;)

[brad]

I'm another person who doesn't plan to ever fully retire. In part because I lived paycheck to paycheck most of my working life and didn't start saving in earnest for retirement until I was in my 40s, but also because I can earn money doing things I love (writing, teaching, playing music) and intend to spend my "retirement" years doing that....health permitting of course.

My brother's prospects are much more worrisome: he's 60 and has only $40,000 in retirement savings, which he keeps in a regular savings account earning a few tenths of a percent in interest. I hope I convinced him to at least switch that account to ING so he can get a better interest rate, but clearly he's never going to be able to retire. He lives in the US, so there's the added complication and expense of health insurance. Fortunately he likes his work and can do it from home.

[steve41]

I've seen a lot of plans, and believe me... not starting to save until later in life is very common. When you run a typical plan and include a home purchase, then it is quite normal to see low or no savings whatsoever until the mortgage is paid off. At that point, you can max and/or catchup your rrsp and even save additional outside (nonreg/tfsa) your RRSP max.

The other issue, is that for the normal salaried/working paradigm, income in the early years is quite low compared to later years, and not just because of inflation... wages increase due to merit increases and career advancement.

This 'start saving when you are a teen-ager' stuff is all very well, however I would bet that those savings end up going to a house down pmt and that meaningful savings for retirement (or partial retirement) don't kick in til later in life.

[robert99a]

Target age : ~70 years old. I'm 30 now.