A fresh perspective on retirement + MORE Jul 31st

More centenarians in future means need for better lifestyle, retirement planning

In her book, Reimagine Your Retirement, Joyce Li, a project manager and motivational speaker, offers a perspective on retirement that is not at all the traditional full-stop retirement we think of when we see ads from banks and fund companies.
Instead, she views retirement as a sort of spiritual/vocational halfway house between one’s working years and eternity.  This is not dissimilar to my own view of Findependence or semi-retirement. In fact, she credits Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life for inspiring her almost a decade ago: she gave six family members copies of Warren’s book, with personalized inscriptions.
Are you haunted by nagging dreams?
Li spends time a good chunk of time talking about “nagging dreams” that have yet to come true. And who among us does not harbour dreams we’ve not yet been able to manifest in this harsh workaday world and its seeming financial constraints? Li doesn’t make light of the financial side of retirement but seeks a way to reconcile it…

MONTREAL – Ottawa is sitting on a stockpile of more than $730 million in uncashed tax refunds and other government cheques, according to Public Works Canada.
Many Canadians eagerly await their pension, employment insurance and child-tax benefits, but the department says that 3.2 million cheques issued over the past five years have never been cashed for a variety of reasons such as cheques being lost, not delivered or recipients moving without registering a new address.
The largest amount held is $149 million in tax refunds owed to 338,000 recipients.
There are also more than 1.5 million cheques, worth a total of $420 million, that have remained unclaimed issued under various programs, including $40.1 million in Ontario Trillium Benefit/Ontario Sales Tax credits and $32 million in British Columbia Low Income Climate Action Tax credits. The Receiver General for Canada issues payments for almost 30 programs on behalf of all provincial governments except Manitoba.
Other outstanding payments include:
— $41 million for the Canada Pension Plan program…

A pension through your work can represent a substantial part of your retirement income, particularly if it is a defined benefit pension plan. This is a plan that provides a predetermined level of income at retirement based on a formula set out in the plan.

A spousal RRSP is a financial tool where one spouse can make a contribution to a plan opened in the other spouse’s name. Couples can then split income in retirement so that each person has a equal amount. This strategy helps to lower their income tax payable.
When the Spousal RRSPs Makes Sense
A spousal RRSP makes sense when one person earns significantly more than the other. It can be considered when one spouse is earning and the other one is at home caring for children. Spousal RRSPs can also be used where both spouses are working but there is a significant difference in their respective incomes.
Where both spouses earn approximately the same amount, a spousal plan is not the best option. Instead, each spouse should be making contributions to a personal plan in accordance with his or her RRSP limit. The amount that each person can contribute to a RRSP is listed on the Notice of Assessment issued by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) each year.
Opening a Spousal RRSP Account
When a couple decides to open a spousal RRSP, the account is opened in the lower-earning spouse’s name…