# When did you start saving for retirement?



## BeautifulAngel (Jun 30, 2017)

When did you decide you were going to start saving for your retirement? Do you wish you would have started earlier?

I started saving for my retirement 3 years ago when I was 21. I decided I one day wanted to retire and that the only way I can make it happen is if I start planning strategically now. 

I feel like I could have definitely started saving sooner as I believe it is never too early to start saving for retirement. However, I am not disappointed in myself for starting to save at 21.


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## Ponderling (Mar 1, 2013)

I graduated uni, and started working at a small company in 1990, that had no pension, group rrsp, etc. 
I started saving $100 per month, on a bit of good advice that my dad mentioned, that if you did not get used to spending it, you would never feel it.

I started with GIC's - they actually had a return back then. 

Then bank mutual funds and mutual funds in general taught me that the fund underwriters made the money even when I didn't.
MER's were higher back then.

Try to consolidate all to one institution. Then you can some day cut trustee fees in the self directed account you are likely going to figure out you want once all holds get above say 50k.

Check out TD's e-series mutual funds, sold only to those with a TD online account, as I understand. 


Once you get above about 100k, look to etf's instead of mutual funds.


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## bariutt (Feb 2, 2013)

*Saving For Retirement*

I started saving for retirement in my mid twenties. I am 64 now and in hindsight starting to save early was a very wise decision. 

With so many employees today having no pension plans it is crucial that one start saving early if you are to amass sufficient funds to retire with. 

One must take advantage of compounding rates of return over time to grow your investments. I believe that you need at least a 30 year period to do this.

So that means if you intend to retire at 65 then you need to start saving in a serious way no later than age 35 (preferably sooner). 

With such low rates of returns on fixed investments an investor is almost forced to seek investment alternatives that provide a better rate of return.

I would maximise my contributions to TFSA first and then RRSPs (if I had any additional funds to save). For me anyways the TFSA have proven to be a better investment alternative.


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## milhouse (Nov 16, 2016)

I didn't start saving seriously for retirement until I go my first "real" full time job at age 26. 
Around my early 20's, I had a regular part time job that had some kind of quasi-pension thing. Unfortunately, I was dumb and when I eventually quick that job after 4 or 5 years, I took the pension buyout package thing and promptly spent it on a new computer instead of investing it. 
Not seriously saving earlier on likely didn't sink me as I'm still targeting to retire around age 50, but I'm thinking I might have been able to retire now at around age 45 if I started saving earlier and saved that buyout money. But as discussed in the frugality thread, it's psychologically hard when you're young and starting to earn some cash.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Outside of an employee matching savings plan that I took advantage of as soon as I could, saving and investing in earnest for retirement started circa age 40, the month after my mortgage was paid off. At that time, double digit interest rates on mortgages meant it was way better to pay off a mortgage aggressively. Seventeen years later, I was in a position to retire comfortably as a result of a very focused and disciplined investment plan.


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## Koogie (Dec 15, 2014)

Started in 1994 and stopped (more or less) in 2015.


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## heyjude (May 16, 2009)

I didn't start saving "for retirement" until I was 33. I was a physician who travelled extensively to get the postgraduate training I needed (10 years) and during that time my focus was on investing in my education. I did save for a future down payment on a home and in an emergency fund. When I was 32 I started a job as an academic attending physician. The university had a physicians' medical group that managed our clinical income and provided financial planning. This was key, in view of the absence of pensions. I got the message loud and clear, kept my expenses modest, and immediately began investing for retirement.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

Learned about rrsp's and the ability to defer taxes payable at age 24. Heck of a deal, get a refund and apply to the mortgage each year (mort. rate was 14.25%). We even borrowed in the first (or second?) year because we didn't have enough saved. Paid that rrsp loan off over the next 6 mos. We then proceeded to maximize our rrsp contributions (self and spouse) each and every year for the next 38 years.

I consider it part of the 'pay yourself first' or the 'save 10% to 20% of your gross income' process of achieving FI.


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## olivaw (Nov 21, 2010)

28 for me but the savings rate was embarrassingly low. The bulk of my net worth was accumulated between the age of 46 and 56. Those were my highest earning years.


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## SW20 MR2 (Dec 18, 2010)

Got serious about it when I started a decent full time job at 26 and had a company-matched RRSP. I'm 39 now, and we save a pretty good amount nowadays, so I feel good about where we are.


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## canew90 (Jul 13, 2016)

Thanks to my wife, we always tried to keep out of debt but when we did buy on time, we paid it off as soon as we could. We did not even think of retirement savings till late 40's and early 50's. Not the best choice. It's a credit to you for starting so young.


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## GreatLaker (Mar 23, 2014)

Around age 25 for me. Graduated university at age 23, then took a couple of years to get established. After that I always maxed out RRSP and TFSA (starting in 2009), except for two periods when I made real estate purchases, and two years when I took time off for grad school. Then after those times ended I saved aggressively to catch up on the missed savings. Also I saved in non-registered when possible. Through good planning between early retirement and age 71 I will be able to ensure I avoid OAS clawback, partly because with no pension I will have a lot of lower taxed investment income vs. not much other income that attracts the highest marginal rate.

I found Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam to be a good guide for frugal living and low-cost investing.
https://www.amazon.ca/Millionaire-Teacher-Wealth-Should-Learned/dp/1119356296

Also If You Can by William Bernstein is a good free e-book on lifetime investing and saving.
https://www.etf.com/docs/IfYouCan.pdf


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

I made big money after 5 years of working and so spent it on big houses and cars and raising a family. After ten years of that at age 40, I started investing. I never spent on baubles and brands. The boys had cars from us and were partly financed for university (Western and Queens). The mortgage was paid off.

In those days, there was no internet, so I experimented with brokers and wealth managers. In spite of high trading fees and MERs, after another 10 years, I had amassed a pretty good stash. And TD had introduced Greenline. So began my investing career. I gradually weaned myself off of Canaccord, Merrill Lynch and Dominion Securities as my DIY confidence grew.

Now, I would recommend that anyone start investing in their mid-40s after kids and mortgages are paid for. Those are your high earning years and your expenses have dropped if you are wise. That should give you a good 10 years to amass enough to pull the pin.

If you are analytical and brave then DIY on individual stocks is the best route. Otherwise go with ETFs. These are very complicated so stick with a few big ones. No slicing and dicing. I use them for everything but Canada and US.


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## Marc (Jan 16, 2015)

I was very fortunate to work part time at a Credit Union in my last few years of University and then full time for an additional 3 years. While the salary was very modest, it provided me with a very valuable education regarding investments, loans and mortgages. I learned to live within my means, and to become responsible with my finances. 

In the past 17 years, I became very serious about investing and have saved the majority of every annual bonus and salary increase (90% towards savings, 10% for fun). 

I've been a buy and hold investor and built up my investment portfolio with blue chip stocks and ETFs. I just turned 50 this year and along with my spouse, have achieved financial independence. 

I have to say achieving this milestone has actually made our work lives more enjoyable as we are no longer distracted by worries about job security. I applaud the young investors who are starting early to save for retirement. It will pay off!


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## afulldeck (Mar 28, 2012)

Every day I am thankful that I start saving immediately with my first job and have continued to do so throughout my career. Granted the savings hasn't always been stellar, but its been there. This approach has saved my bacon, since my career in IT has had some major up's and down's due to offshoring and outsourcing. I would always recommend everyone save as much as they can, when they can.


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## tygrus (Mar 13, 2012)

Never saved a dime in my life - 48yrs. I let inflation do all the heavy lifting for me. I just get myself in the way.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

About age 23 for me. I was told to "buy RRSPs"  Saved a bit but not much during my 20s. Age 30 is when I had my financial wake-up call, i.e., get saving.


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

I saved very little until my late 40's...every spare nickel went into my mortgage & business.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Eder said:


> I saved very little until my late 40's...every spare nickel went into my mortgage & business.


My view is aggressive buydown of a mortgage is the same thing as saving and investing. It is just sequence of priorities. I clearly have no regrets for aggressive budgeting and buydown of my mortgage in a 15 year period (with the final house at time of mortgage buyout being as big as we needed and more). Course double digit interest rates provides an incentive. The key was then to turn what was then mortgage payments/buydown into the capital markets to build the portfolio.


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## Daniel A. (Mar 20, 2011)

At age 25 when I got my career job with a company paid pension plan DB, due to the DB plan I never really had to do much from my end except show up for 30 years. 
Your approach is a smart move that will serve you well.


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## NorthKC (Apr 1, 2013)

I was 24 when I first started saving for it when my firm had a group RRSP matching plan then when I went to another job, they didn't have such plan and cash flow was a bit tight so no savings during this time frame. 4 years ago, I took on a better job and really ramped up my retirement savings at that point which was boosted by the fact that my firm offered a matching plan. I've now made up for lost time and then some!


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## like_to_retire (Oct 9, 2016)

I started saving for retirement when I was 23. I always had a federal government job with a DB pension that was mandatory, but I also put the maximum they allowed me every year into an RRSP. The refund and any other money I had went to paying down my mortgage, which at one point was above 20% (something people today can't fathom). 

I maxed the TFSA ever since it was introduced. 

After I was mortgage free I also began saving as much as I could into non-registered investments.

So after saving now for 43 years, I have more than enough to live on. I do question if it was smart to put money into an RRSP, because now after those 43 years of saving, my income is at a bracket quite a bit above my brackets during accumulation. Everyone tells me that it was a good idea, but I question it.

I've been retired for 11 years now and still haven't dipped into my investments. That's definitely something I have to work on. My DB pension and CPP seem to be more than enough. It's hard to reverse the flow when you've been doing it for so long. It's a game I have enjoyed, and I'm sure my kids will quite enjoy the spoils after I pass. I haven't read a lot of threads on the physiological aspects of moving from accumulation to spending. Maybe spending isn't a problem for most people. haha

ltr


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

like_to_retire said:


> ... So after saving now for 43 years, I have more than enough to live on. I do question if it was smart to put money into an RRSP, because now after those 43 years of saving, my income is at a bracket quite a bit above my brackets during accumulation. Everyone tells me that it was a good idea, but I question it.


It may end up being like overtime pay ... some looks at the taxes taken to conclude "it's not worth it" while others look at "the net is more that with no overtime worked".




like_to_retire said:


> ... I've been retired for 11 years now and still haven't dipped into my investments. That's definitely something I have to work on. My DB pension and CPP seem to be more than enough. It's hard to reverse the flow when you've been doing it for so long. It's a game I have enjoyed, and I'm sure my kids will quite enjoy the spoils after I pass. I haven't read a lot of threads on the physiological aspects of moving from accumulation to spending. Maybe spending isn't a problem for most people.


I intentionally spend every so often. 

Grandmother had to scrimp/do without so that my dad commented that when the kids were all doing well to the point of being able to give her material things - she could no longer enjoy them. Some threads talk about people having similar issues.


Cheers


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## latebuyer (Nov 15, 2015)

I started saving when i got my first job out of university. My biggest money regret is that i saved that money in a money market fund for a couple of years and then switched to high fee td mutual funds. I really wish i got my act together sooner.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

latebuyer said:


> I started saving when i got my first job out of university. My biggest money regret is that i saved that money in a money market fund for a couple of years and then switched to high fee td mutual funds. I really wish i got my act together sooner.


For a lot of investors of the Boomer generation, now entering retirement, there was not a lot of information that was freely available in the 70s and 80s. It wasn't until the Internet opened up the world that many of us Boomers became financial savvy. IOW, many of us did not start saving for retirment in earnest until our 40s and even then, not necessarily in the right investments (e.g. not high MER mutual funds) or with the right people (not full service commission). It is really not that long ago that things like TD e-series mutual funds came along, or that discount brokerage commissions dropped from circa $30 and then $20. I opened my first discount brokerage account circa 1998 when E*TRADE came to Canada.

Young investors today have a huge advantage starting when they can with Internet information, finance blogs and discussion forums, and super cheap discount brokerage commissions. No reason to have regrets about woulda, coulda, shoulda, etc.


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## BeautifulAngel (Jun 30, 2017)

GreatLaker said:


> Around age 25 for me. Graduated university at age 23, then took a couple of years to get established. After that I always maxed out RRSP and TFSA (starting in 2009), except for two periods when I made real estate purchases, and two years when I took time off for grad school. Then after those times ended I saved aggressively to catch up on the missed savings. Also I saved in non-registered when possible. Through good planning between early retirement and age 71 I will be able to ensure I avoid OAS clawback, partly because with no pension I will have a lot of lower taxed investment income vs. not much other income that attracts the highest marginal rate.
> 
> I found Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam to be a good guide for frugal living and low-cost investing.
> https://www.amazon.ca/Millionaire-Teacher-Wealth-Should-Learned/dp/1119356296
> ...


Thank you for sharing those links! 

I will definitely look into these guides and books. 

Ashley


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## gardner (Feb 13, 2014)

I opened an RRSP when I was about 23, the first time I had a job that paid enough to generate a real tax liability. Before that I was not much above the personal amount and making RRSP contribution made no sense. I have essentially maxed the RRSP since then.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

I worked in an industry and for a company that was in downsizing mode for the last 20 years or so. It caused me to focus on paying down the mortage. Especially since interest rates were high. For a time I simply opened those annual retirement statements and tossed them in the drawer.

In my late 40's the merged company tried to buy out my dB and switch me to DC. I was then I started to pay attention. Added up the sums, etc, read everything I could, sought out and spoke to those who were well versed in the subject. All along I had always maxed out my RSP's even though there was not much room left. When stock options in lieu of salary increments came my way, and I figured out their worth and their tax benefits I really started to pay attention to retiring early and retiring on my terms. When a package came along I was ready, and I grabbed it. So thankful that I did the diligence to prepare myself emotionally and financially for that windfall....probably the closest I will ever come to winning the lottery!


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## Mortgage u/w (Feb 6, 2014)

I grew up with the mentality to save first and spend what's left (not, spend first and save what's left).

Therefore, I started saving as soon as I understood what money was. Not knowing what retirement was at such a young age, saving money just became part of my DNA. And so today, I have a very comfortable nest. I'm not one who strives for the optimal return, investment or strategy. All I strive for is to grow and protect my nest, which I know will cover me till the end of my days.


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## redsgomarching (Mar 6, 2016)

I managed to get a job right out of university after taking time to travel and volunteer at 23 earning 40k per year I was aiming to save atleast 70% of my after tax pay with the goal of a minimum savings rate of 50%. if i would go below 50% i would evaluate my expenses and what i was spending on and determine if there were cheaper alternatives to the underlying expense - (i.e, eating out - i would invite friends over and we would all bring food and drinks and share). tracking spending and saving really goes a long way especially in identifying where your leakages are but also helps you realize what experiences that you wouldnt mind spending money on (sports, travelling, different events)


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## OutofBounds (Dec 7, 2016)

I've had an RRSP for quite a few years now. I never put it to work for me, despite the fact it would have massively eased my tax burden especially in the last 4 or 5 years. This years I've finally seriously started saving money and learning about how to be smart with it. My employer also just introduced RRSP matching, so 4% of my paycheck (plus the match by my employer) will be going into an RBC aggressive growth portfolio. I'll also be contributing to my TFSA and another invested RRSP plan at Tangerine, doing my best to max out the limits on both each years. I'm aiming to save approximately 40% of my net income between both RRSP's, the TFSA and a downpayment for a home. 

I'm 28 now. I full intend that my 55th birthday will be my last day in a regular job. After that, my only concerns will be "is the coffee done?" and "what are the trout eating today?"


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