# Retiring- when is enough actually enough?



## 50/50 (Mar 30, 2013)

I'm finding it very difficult trying to decide what is enough to retire on. I always thought that once I had reached my goals , it would be an easy decision. I guess fear of the future is holding me back. 

Go ahead and give me your opinions :

Myself - age 47
Spouse- age 45
Self employed- no pensions
combined rrsps- 360,000
house and vac home - +500,000
have all the toys paid for
tsfas and next years tsfa -65000
no debt, no mortgage

Held within our company holdings -1.8 mil cash- in low(1.8 - 2.4%) gics
other assets within the company- 250,000
no debt


My concerns are:

- To still have a taxable income to age 60 to create CPP and RRSP contributions
- I still owe personal tax on company monies minus a large shareholder loan
- The oldest child cost me 230,000 to fufill his univesity education and we
still have 2 kids (youngest is 15) at home to go to university
- I'm too conservative as an investor and it bothers me to have anything "risky" 


I'm thinking i'm going to have to worked another few years until the last of our kids are done university.

Did I mention I really , really hate my job ? If it wasn't for the money, I would have quit a long time ago.

Thrash away.

50/50


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

A key missing data point: How much do you currently spend annually (excluding paying for kid costs & investing)? This will be the amount you need to replace upon retirement. 

You have a lot of money but it will cost you about 500k to educate the 2 remaining children if they do the same path as the oldest.


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## 50/50 (Mar 30, 2013)

We have been living on a household of 84 g pretax. 

We feel that that could reduced that to 70-72 g pretax .


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

I'm far from a pro but by my calculations, you have about 1.9 mil for retirement right now (subtracted out the 500k for the kids), and if you take out 3% per year, you have 59k pretax. If it were me I'd probably wait a little longer.


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## RBull (Jan 20, 2013)

A couple of things - personal tax on company monies & large shareholder loan.... What is the net of this...how are you going to take from the company?
Also what is the value of the company...will you plan to sell??


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## 50/50 (Mar 30, 2013)

My shareholders(our) is 250k- that part is tax free. i.e they are dividends that i never took out of the company.
That leaves about 1.5m that i have to pay tax on . 

My plan was to just keep drawing wages out. Just enough wages to max out on cpp contributions(or very close).

There is no value to the company operations once I am gone. I am the company.


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## donald (Apr 18, 2011)

Why can't you keep the company running and source out the work?Not sure what type of business you are in{none of my business,don't have to share what it is}It can/could be a alternative---Pay healthy rates to find top talent in your field and obviously takes points.Slowly try to ''faze'' yourself out,and in the process you might get passionate again?(there are young people that would jump at the chance if you can source the right people out)Work on your business instead of in it(I've started doing this,i am in construction and it has been the best thing i have ever done)So what if your income gets cut in half,the right people running it might be able to double the sales(fresh blood)Be a shame to close shop?I'm sure you have value in your company??You prove it with your #s.Your still pretty young.


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## RBull (Jan 20, 2013)

I think you're going to be working for another 5-10 years with those kind of education costs, combined with a low tolerance to investment risk. 

I do not claim to be an expert but your plan to ensure max CPP makes sense to me.


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