Defining financial independence + MORE Jun 12th

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia contains an excellent entry on financial independence, which you can find here. Off the top it says financial independence is a term that describes “the state of having sufficient personal wealth to live, without having to work actively for basic necessities.”
The distinction this blog often makes between findependence (simply a contraction I coined that means financial independence) and retirement becomes crystal clear in this Wikipedia sentence: “It does not matter how old or young someone is or how much money they have or make. If they can generate enough money to meet their needs from sources other than their primary occupation, then they have achieved financial independence.”
Exactly! It goes on to point out that if you’re 25 years old, with expenses of $100 a month and sufficient financial or other assets to generate $101 a month, then “they have achieved financial independence, and they are now free to do things that they enjoy without having to worry as much…

Filed under: Budgeting & Planning, Employment & Careers, Family Finances, Retirement and RRSPs
Scenario 1: Your path to retirement is wide, gently sloped, paved with good intentions and free of potholes-including market declines, job loss and health problems.

Scenario 2: Your path to retirement is steep, littered with obstacles and fraught with perils, including procrastination and the temptation to raid your accounts to finance other pressing priorities.

Unfortunately, Scenario 2 is more likely. In a new survey by Ameriprise Financial of people ages 50 to 70, virtually all of the respondents said they had experienced at least one retirement derailer, and more than half said that it had seriously affected their retirement savings. The average amount lost or forgone: $117,000. A poll of Kiplinger’s readers showed similar results.

You can’t stop life from knocking you off your feet, but you can plan for the unexpected and move forward after the inevitable hard knocks.

SLIDESHOW: 6 Costly Retirement Mistakes & How to Fix Them

6 Costly Retirement-Saving Setbacks – and How to Overcome Them originally appeared on Walletpop Canada on Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:47:00 EST…

The Canadian government recognizes that Canadians who are self-employed or working for small businesses do not have access to an employer-sponsored pension plan. In June of 2012, Parliament approved a new way for working adults to save for retirement.
The Pooled Registered Pension Plan (PRPP) is available to employees working for companies under federal jurisdiction. The British Columbia government had introduced legislation to allow individuals and businesses this type of plan, but it died on the order paper when the most recent election was called. Hopefully, new legislation will be introduced soon which will allow more people to take advantage of this savings vehicle.
Pooled Registered Pension Plan Overview
A Pooled Registered Pension Plan (PRPP) is a deferred income plan. You would open a PRPP through your employer or at a participating financial institution. Participants’ assets are pooled with those of other individuals, which will help to keep administrations costs down. Your contributions to your PRPP are tax-deductible, in the same way that you would deduct your RRSP contribution…

Air Canada says it aims to eliminate its multibillion-dollar pension solvency deficit by 2020 as part of a broader effort to cut costs ahead of a major international expansion.