Unretired: how never retiring might be the right choice for you

It’s been programmed into the psyche for most of us – retirement is a time when you finally escape the grind of work and ease into a life of travel, leisure and relaxation.

Not so, writes Mark S. Walton in his engaging book, Unretired.

A quote from Hemingway begins his book. “Retirement is the filthiest word in the language,” the great author once wrote. “Whether by choice or fate, to retire from what you do – and what makes you what you are – is to back up into the grave.”

Walton notes that many older people don’t want to spend their retirement day playing golf “and then a round of dominoes and get back home around 4 p.m.;” they want to continue to be “a contributing member of society.”

As recently as 2022, he writes, “nearly 10 per cent of college-educated Americans aged 65 and older who had previously retired, changed their minds and rejoined the workforce…. By the year 2030, the number of working 65-plus-year-old Americans… will be greater than the populations of Los Angelese and Chicago combined.”

“Retiring from work is not right for everybody – in fact, for a solid majority of people, it can turn out to be a seriously bad idea,” Walton notes.

He notes that for those “who enjoyed and were effective in their work lives,” the “losses” from retirement include personal identity, sense of purpose, daily structure, and friends and a social network.

He adds that “the more successful you have been in your career, especially financially, the more likely you are to feel like a failure in retirement.”

To be “unretired,” he posits, is a solution. Walton lists three “essential building blocks of a joyful and fulfilling future,” namely fascination, flow, and generativity. The last term refers to “the drive to help others.” His book his filled with examples of those who continued to work at important jobs, found new careers, vocations, or started new businesses, and became “unretired.”

Susan Nolingberg was let go at age 60 after the company she worked for was bought. “I had a nice severance. I could have just done nothing, but it would not have been very personally rewarding to me,” she tells Walton 10 years later. “I don’t need to work, that’s not why I’m working, but I’ve been able to live a very nice lifestyle with the additional income in… I’ve done some amazing things in the past 10 years that I wouldn’t have experienced if I’d just hung it up.”

Ruth Johnson, also 70 and still working as a medical doctor, says “I really enjoy what I’m doing. I feel like it’s valuable, it’s helping people, and you can’t beat that really.”

Walton notes that the American Association of Retired Persons now goes by only its initials, AARP, because still-working Americans who were invited to join the association on turning 50 “didn’t want to be reminded they were growing older (and) didn’t want to join a club that included their parents.” AARP recognized that many of its members “continue to work full time or part time.”

That’s changing the look of the U.S. workforce, the book continues.

Chris Farrell of NPR is quoted in the book as saying “older workers are going to change the workforce as profoundly as women did.”

In a later chapter, Walton speaks with Dr. Michael Merzenich about how challenging your brain can keep it healthy even in your later years. “In a well-led life,” the doctor states in the book, “you would consider your brain fitness, your neurological abilities, and try to do what’s necessary to sustain these as close to the peak as possible at all times… what a gift it is that we have the ability to keep ourselves at that high operational level in our 70s, 80s, or however long we live.” Continuing to work and challenge the brain keeps it fitter, the book tells us.

Dr. Shep Nuland tells Walton that “those of us who’ve had challenging things to do in which every year brought greater growth in our profession, are much more likely to be insistent on greater growth once we’re older. We’re not going to sit still for decline.”

This is a great, well-written and inspiring book.

Even if you continue to work after age 65, full time or part time, a little extra income is always handy. You can convert your Saskatchewan Pension Plan to an income stream “any time between the ages of 55 and 71,” according to the SPP Pension Guide (retirement_guide.pdf).

SPP will continue to invest your contributions in our professionally managed, low-cost and diversified pooled fund. When it is time to turn savings into income, your choices include the security of a monthly lifetime annuity payment or the flexibility of the Variable Benefit.

Check out SPP today!

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The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly – great advice on aging in style and grace

On the cover of her charming new book, The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly, author Margareta Magnusson tells us the book offers “life wisdom from someone who will (probably) die before you.”

Sadly, she passed away in March of this year at the age of 91. However, her last book is an eye-opener. The book, she writes, provides “discoveries I have made about becoming very old – some of the discoveries were hard to accept, but many of them have been rather wondrous.”

In a chapter on the importance of keeping in touch with old friends, titled “have a gin and tonic with a friend,” she marvels at how today’s technology allows her to stay in touch with old friends from other countries.

However, she is always surprised why her children and grandchildren ask why she still has a landline. How else, she writes, would one be able to find the cell phone?

“It’s important that we who are past eighty keep up-to-date with technology,” she advises. “Otherwise we risk missing out on so much that makes modern life both easier and more enjoyable – not to mention we don’t want our children and grandchildren to think we’re too old and square to participate.”

Later, she talks about staying positive over a lifetime where “the world is always ending.”

She recalls her father remembering the Spanish flu outbreak that took place in her native Sweden, killing tens of thousands. She also remembers being evacuated to the country during the Second World War, at 10, where her farm job was to feed the turkeys. After the war, it was the Cold War and the threat of nuclear attacks, and later, other calamities like Chernobyl, AIDS, and COVID-19.

“The world is always ending, and yet it continues to survive,” she observes. “We must always hope for a sustainable future, but hope alone is not enough. Even if we ourselves may not live to see it, we musn’t be so preoccupied with living in the present that we forget to leave room for – and help prepare for – a possible future.”

Another maxim is “don’t leave empty-handed,” an old Swedish saying.

It means that when you get up from the table, bring something with you – a dirty dish, the salt and pepper – and help put it away. “I think the principle of not leaving empty-handed can be applied everywhere you go in life. If there are dirty clothes on your bedroom floor and you pass the laundry basket empty-handed, that is not clever. The pile will only get bigger. Don’t leave empty-handed,” she writes.

In a chapter titled “Volunteer as much as you can,” she explains how helping out “makes you feel useful and good about yourself,” she first tried it when her family moved to the U.S. when she was in her 40s.

“Every Monday, I volunteered to take care of the school’s library for the younger children. Not all human beings look forward to Monday mornings, but I sure did.” The young kids “were always so friendly, curious, and full of energy. Even better was that their energy was very contagious, I too felt energized when the day was done.”

She adds that she has “met so many nice people while doing it; some even became lifelong friends.”

Taking care of your hair is important for older ladies, she notes. “I feel – blessed as I am with a good head of hair – that it’s more important to take care of your hair” than trying to manage wrinkles. “If you care about your appearance – which I do – then your hair is a better workplace than your face.”

In a later chapter, she advises us all to treat young people “as you want to be treated. Don’t tell them about your bad knee, again. Don’t guilt-trip them about not calling enough. Just ask them questions. Listen to them. Act interested. Give them food and tell them to go enjoy their lives. If you do these things they will keep calling and visiting.”

In a sweet story about life in her two-room apartment and living with mobility issues, she mentions that she has named her walker “Lars Harald, after my husband who is no longer with me. The walker, much like my husband was, is my support and my safety.”

Her final advice on aging gracefully is to “take care of something everyday,” whether it is pet or a houseplant.

“Given how slowly I sometimes move, just visiting them and watering them if they need it can take a while… I really do love the small daily habit of visiting with them and caring for them. Each day that I am alive and they are alive feels like a marvel.”

This book is also a marvel – a beautifully told tale.

Many of us may spend more time retired from work than we spent actually working.

A great option for some or all of your retirement savings is converting them to a lifetime annuity. It’s a monthly payment that never runs out, and will arrive on the first day of every month of your life.

The Saskatchewan Pension Plan (SPP) offers a variety of different annuities. The SPP Pension Guide provides full details on this important option. Read how SPP has provided retirement security for 40 years. Check out SPP today!

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Most retirement planning isn’t about money: The Ultimate Senior Retirement Guide

We recall that the focus of our initial retirement worries – in the years and months before taking the big step – were related to money. We were going to be living on less money, so would that mean having to cut back on our lifestyle?

Pauline Winslow’s The Ultimate Senior Retirement Guide is a great resource for any among us nearing retirement. This well-written, warm walkthrough makes it clear that living on less, perhaps a fixed income, is only one of many important facets of retired life.

“Retirement,” she begins “is not just an end but a beginning – a chance to rediscover old passions, cultivate new interests, and strengthen connections in this digital age.” It’s normal, she points out, for the newly retired to feel anxious as they step away from their careers; she calls it a mixture of “excitement tinged with uncertainty.”

Life after work is “a shift that many find daunting, yet it’s also a profound opportunity to rediscover yourself and redefine what makes you feel fulfilled,” she writes.

After all, up until now, work, with its deadlines, meetings, and other challenges pre-defined your day’s agenda. “If there’s one thing that often takes a backseat during our working years, it’s the luxury of cultivating a daily routine that genuinely aligns with our joys and rhythms. Retirement opens up this unique space, a blank canvas if you will, where the structure of your day can be painted to suit your deepest desires and needs. It’s not just about filling time, it’s about enriching your life each day,” she explains.

You still may need to battle the “retirement blues,” she warns.

“The shift from a structured work life to the expansive retirement days can sometimes bring about an unexpected guest: the retirement blues. This emotional response can manifest as feelings of uselessness, persistent sadness, or even anxiety about what lies ahead… identifying these signs in yourself or others is the first step towards reclaiming joy and satisfaction in retirement,” she notes.

In a chapter exploring the importance of “physical wellness” in retirement, she stresses that your efforts at maintaining fitness must adapt to fit “your body’s current state… it’s about understanding and embracing your unique physical narrative, which includes those quirks brought on by years of living and moving.”

Those who enjoyed “heavy lifting or intense aerobic workouts” in the past might do better now to focus on “low-impact exercises” like swimming, tai chi, and yoga. Consider balance-boosting activities, since “standing on one leg or walking heel-to-toe can significantly improve your balance,” she adds.

She writes as well about the need to adapt your diet to your current health situation. Even those of us dealing with “health conditions like diabetes, hypertension or heart disease” can, with “thoughtful adjustments… still enjoy a rich and varied diet.”

You need to keep your brain in fine form as well, she advises. History buffs, she writes, might enjoy trivia games, lovers of language may enjoy word searches and crosswords. “The key is to find games you enjoy because the more you enjoy the activity, the more likely you will stick with it regularly,” she points out. Adding friends can make it a social event: “trivia nights, playing strategy games like chess or bridge, or solving puzzles together” can “enhance your social bonds while sharpening everyone’s cognitive skills.”

A later chapter looks at handling grief later in life.

Community support – “people who understand and share the unique challenges of grieving in later life” can help, as can “engagement in therapeutic activities” such as writing, art, or attending or planning memorial events.

Many retirees will find themselves feeling very alone after the loss of a partner. There’s a silver lining to solitude, which she describes as “the perfect backdrop for engaging in activities that nurture your soul and spark your creativity.” Activities such as “painting, writing, gardening, or cooking special meals for yourself” will help you build “self-reliance and confidence in retirement.”

Winslow does spend some time on the financial side of things.

“Creating a sustainable budget on a fixed income is much like planning a well-balanced diet — it should be nutritious enough to maintain good health (in this case, financial health) and flexible enough to allow for the occasional treat,” she suggests.

Start by listing your fixed expenses – housing, utilities and insurance – and then factor it regular expenses like transportation and food. “What’s left can be allocated to discretionary spending – those little pleasures that brighten your day,” she notes.

Tweak your budget often and consider building an emergency fund, she suggests.

If you are living off investment income, “bonds, fixed annuities and dividend-paying stocks are three pillars of low-risk investment strategies that can offer you peace of mind and financial stability,” she writes. Converting some of your savings to an annuity “provides a guaranteed income… this can be particularly appealing if you’re looking for predictable income streams.”

A later chapter underscores the importance volunteering can have, offering “a pathway to stay socially active and mentally engaged, all while contributing to the betterment of your community.”

She writes about the importance of staying current with technology – and knowing its pros and cons – as a way to keep in touch, especially with your grandchildren.

In conclusion, Winslow urges readers to “step into… retirement with courage and an open heart. See this not as a farewell to your working years but as a hello to freedom and opportunities that were once dreams.”

This great book is a must-read, especially for pre-retirees.

If you’re among the lucky few who have access to a retirement program at work, be sure to sign up and contribute to the max.

If not, the Saskatchewan Pension Plan is open to both individuals and groups. You can join yourself, or if you are an employer, you can offer SPP as your company pension plan.

Find out how SPP has been building retirement security for Canadians for 40 years!

Check out SPP today!

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Engaging book delivers financial literacy in clear, enjoyable lessons: The Wealthy Barber (2025)

In this latest update of The Wealthy Barber, author David Chilton has a brother, sister, and their friends – all in their 20s and 30s — learning the ropes of personal finance from the famed Roy Miller, aka The Wealthy Barber.

Despite the surprising twist of everyone in the book being fans of both the Detroit Tigers and Lions, the friends learn key lessons about life and finance in a series of group sessions with Roy.

Roy, the book explains, was forced to drop out of university to look after his mom and siblings, and took over the family barber shop in Sarnia. A lesson he himself learned was to pay attention to successful people, and to learn from them the tricks of living within one’s means while saving for the future. He was happy to pass on his knowledge to a younger generation, including Matt, sister Jess, and friends Kyle and Sourov.

Roy starts off by telling the group “you can do this,” writes Chilton. “There is absolutely nothing we’re going to cover that you’re not capable of fully understanding and implementing successfully. You can start managing your money very well quite soon.”

His first bit of advice, the book continues, is about “the golden rule: invest at least 10 per cent of all you make for long-term growth. If you follow that one simple instruction… someday you’ll be quite well to do.”

Roy also tells the group about “the magic” of compounding, noting that “when your returns build up and earn returns and then all that together earns returns… et cetera, et cetera,” that’s “where the magic happens.”

Saving, he tells the group, is crucial for most of us. “Unless you come from a very wealthy family or marry into one – both excellent strategies by the way – you’re going to have to save money. You’re going to have to spend less than you make. You’re going to have to live within your means,” the book continues.

As well, Roy explains, “the only way to save…(is) to pay yourself first,” the book notes. “The most effective approach is to have the money come right off your paycheque, or directly out of your bank account, before you have a chance to spend it.”

Asked why savings should be invested, rather than being left “under a mattress,” Roy explains to the group that their savings are like a snowball at the top of a hill… “we invest to get it rolling… to harness the power of compounding returns.” Your savings, like the snowball, get larger as they roll along, he notes.

Roy says that even those without any investment knowledge can do well by investing in index funds (such as exchange traded funds). Instead of trying to pick stocks, which Roy likens to finding needles in a haystack, “we’re going to buy the whole haystack. The whole market, or at least, all the big companies.”

He warns the young (future) investors to be careful about fees, as even a seemingly small two per cent charge can eat into the growth of your investments.

A later chapter points out the importance of starting earlier in life on the savings path. There’s a detailed section of the difference between saving in a registered retirement savings plan (where assets grow tax-free and aren’t taxed until withdrawn) and a Tax Free Savings Account (where after-tax money can be saved and withdrawn tax free).

On joining workplace pension plans, Roy says that many such programs offer matching contribution by employers. Roy tells Matt, a teacher, that he has “a tremendous benefit at work that the rest of us here aren’t blessed with — a wonderful pension plan.” A defined benefit pension plan, the book explains, can provide members with pensions that pay out “60 per cent or more of their last working year’s income!”

The book discusses the other workplace pension options out there, such as defined contribution plans and group RRSPs as being easy ways to save automatically for your post-work future, and how programs like the First Home Savings Account and Home Buyers’ Plan can help you buy a home.

Other ideas Roy Miller shares with the group:

• Buying a smaller house means you will have a smaller mortgage that you can pay off more quickly.
• Be careful with credit cards and lines of credit – “debt doesn’t just offset growing assets, it often becomes so expensive to service that future saving is squeezed out.”
• If you are having problems living within your means, find a way to make more money – such as getting a promotion or a second part-time job.

Roy’s final advice to his students “is simply this. Fancy tax shelters, far-out-of-the-money option contracts and meme stocks all make for great conversations at dinner parties. Forced saving, owning the thing that own the things and compounding returns simply make for great dinner parties.”

This is beautifully written, entertaining and engaging book that takes the mystery out of being in charge of your finances.

If you don’t have a workplace pension program to join, then the Saskatchewan Pension Plan may be just what you’ve been looking for. You decide how much to contribute – you can have an amount directly transferred to the plan from your bank account on payday, or make lump sum contributions, or transfers in from other RRSPs you have – and SPP does the heavy lifting for you.

SPP will invest your hard-saved loonies in our professionally managed, low fee pooled fund. When it’s time to retire, your options include the security of a monthly lifetime annuity payment or the more flexible Variable Benefit.

Check out SPP today!

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The Ultimate Cat: Telling the story of the struggles of retirement, caring for older parents

If ever you want to figure out what life will be like when you are older and no longer working, pick up a copy of The Ultimate Cat by Naomi P. Lane.

In an honest, no-holds-barred style, Lane walks us through her life – caring for both her mom and her husband’s as they transition away from work into retirement.

When the moms both go into care, almost at the same time, she and her husband are “gobsmacked… suddenly, all the possibilities of living on our own flash before us.”

There’s still the work of clearing out two houses, though. “Thankfully, both homes sell quickly, and there’s enough money to pay for the mothers’ care homes in perpetuity.” She and her husband can afford to retire, and spend more time with their respective mothers, the book continues.

She talks about the transition from working to not.

“We can sit and drink coffee and read the news or do a crossword for as long as we like…. There is no mini-celebration at the end of the workweek and no alcohol-fed burnout session,” she writes. Weekends are no longer that big a deal, and when their first pension cheques arrive, “we cannot believe we are being paid to do nothing.”

There’s more time than they bargained for, she notes.

“We realize we are sleeping way too much but we don’t care,” she writes. “Make a big breakfast? Nap. Go out shopping and visit the mothers? Nap. Entertain visitors? Nap,” she writes.

“For the first time in our lives we do exactly as we please and it is wonderful!”

They note that while the odds of grandkids in the near future seem slim, “we will have to entertain ourselves. This is the ultimate challenge of retirement.”

In a chapter talking about revitalizing old friendships and making new ones, Lane offers some sage advice. “At this age,” she confides, “it is time to let go of friendships that are no longer working for you,” even with some family members. “There’s no time for hurtful relationships at this point in our lives,” she writes.

A later chapter outlines what it’s like to lose a parent. In addition to the pain and loss, there is a ton of stuff to do, Lane notes.

You are “running around closing bank accounts and care home accounts, cancelling payments and memberships to every organization she belonged to, closing pensions, picking up signed copies of death certificates and wills, notifying all the friends and neighbours, placing an obituary notice in the newspaper, mailing cards overseas to distant relatives, making funeral arrangements and ordering flowers… then thanking everyone,” she writes.

As you get older, a later chapter tells us, you need to look after your health and fitness. “The trick is to keep moving,” she writes. “Even my 94-year-old mother tried to walk a lap around the care home with her walker until the last six months when she was wheelchair bound.” Her mom used to tell her “you must let me do as much as I can, even if I’m painfully slow at it.”

You also need to stay busy, she writes. She and her husband both did some volunteer work, for the social connections and satisfaction such work provides. Other friends use retirement “to make an impact on a broader scale,” doing such things as running an orphanage in Kenya, or teaching English in Guatemala.

They thought about moving somewhere warmer and smaller. But things to consider, she writes, are whether or not your new rural area offers good access to healthcare or hospitals. Will you be able to replace the friends and comforts of your present home in a new locale?

If you face health challenges – like cancer – later in life, “please ask for help from your inner circle or from volunteer organizations like the local cancer society. There is plenty of help available across many areas of daily life, such as volunteer drivers, shoppers, people who deliver medical supplies and peer support groups,” she writes.

In a chapter on attending a high school reunion decades after graduation, she writes “we are shocked to see that everyone we remember from high school looks so ancient! How did they get so old? We suddenly realize, like a slap in the face, that this is how we look to them as well.”

A chapter near the end of the book focuses on the importance of having a will and designating people as powers of attorney for health and finance. “Now is the time to share your wealth, if you have any, with the people who are important to you,” she advises. Take family out to supper, or on a vacation, or buy toys for grandkids. “If you don’t have money, give them the gift of your time.”

Retirement, the book concludes “is the time to embrace the best part of your life and enjoy every day to its fullest.”

This is a great read, and many of us of a certain age will totally identify with the situations and characters faced by the author. This will give you a real sense, if you are younger, of the triumphs and challenges that await you in the life after work.

If you are fortunate enough to have a retirement program at work, be sure to contribute as much as you can to it. If not, an alternative do-it-yourself approach is available via the Saskatchewan Pension Plan (www.saskpension.com). You decide how much to contribute, SPP does the rest.

Your contributions are grown through investment in a professionally managed, low-cost pooled fund, now nearing $1 billion in value.

At retirement, your options include receiving a monthly lifetime SPP annuity, or the more flexible Variable Benefit. Check out SPP today

Making the transition to retirement easier – My Retirement, My Way

We certainly wish we had had a copy of My Retirement, My Way, by Veronica McCain, when we retired from full-time work back in 2014.

It’s difficult to explain clearly what retirement is like, or is going to be like, to those still working, but McCain does it in a friendly, informative way equipped with plenty of worksheets, lists, and anecdotes.

“Retirement is one of the biggest transitions in life,” she begins. “I recall counting down the days to my own retirement and how excited I was to cross out each day on my calendar.”

“When I closed my office door for the final time, a flood of emotions came over me. This was the end of this chapter in my life. My work, which was a significant part of my daily life for 32 years, was no more.”

And while work, perhaps getting married and having kids, provided a “life road map” to follow, “when you retire, the way ahead may not be as clear…. Retirement is when you make life happen. The road is wide open, and you can take any direction.”

An early chapter suggests that the newly retired look for activities they enjoyed when they took time off work. “Journal and reflect on your expectations of yourself as a retired person,” the book advises. Follow your interests through books, articles, and podcasts, and consider becoming “a volunteer for different organizations to discover how you most enjoy helping out.”

Worksheets and quizzes help you figure out your “retirement outlook” and readiness, another helps you look back at what benefits your career provided.

McCain notes that the notion of success, “often defined by one’s position, salary, expertise, and knowledge” in the time before retirement, will change. “Now that you are retired, your job will no longer determine how successful you are.” Instead, you should think of success “as a journey that evolves over time.” A series of thoughtful exercises and worksheets then follow to help you envision success in life after work.

A later chapter reminds the reader that once one is retired, many will think you now have the free time to help them out. Learn, she advises, to say “no… (if) these requests are getting in the way of what you want to accomplish.”

A helpful pros/cons chart lets you refine whether incoming requests get a yes or a polite no.

When looking at finances in retirement, McCain observes that “until now, your primary focus has likely been growing your retirement nest egg.” Now, she continues, you shift from “accumulation to distribution.”

“Your retirement savings need to outlast you,” she explains. She provides a few tips to stretch your retirement dollars – looking for deals on travelling, and travelling in the off-season: going to one vehicle, tweaking life insurance, and focusing on your health to avoid medical expenses.

There’s a look at whether your present home will work for you once you age – and checklists to help see if a move would be a good or bad thing. Another chapter looks at the importance of keeping old friends while meeting new ones.

There are support information and worksheets on what to do if you have “boomerang” children who move home just as your retirement is getting going.

We read an awful lot of books about retirement – this one is one of the better ones. Many different scenarios are discussed in a thoughtful way, and for sure this book would take the fear many feel about retirement out of the equation.

“There is no one-size-fits all approach to a happy retirement. It is what you make it. You have worked hard to develop a plan to help guide you; now execute it and have some fun. Don’t hold back! Now is the time to go full throttle ahead.”

These days, many of us are having to save on their own for retirement.

If you are in this situation, a great saving partner can be found via the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. You provide the money – you decide how much – and SPP does the rest, investing your savings in a low-cost, professionally managed, pooled fund.

At retirement, your options include a lifetime monthly annuity payment or the more flexible Variable Benefit.

Check out SPP today!

Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!

What Golf Can Teach You About Financial Planning reveals links between fairways hit and dividends collected

You might not naturally see a connection between the game of golf and financial planning.

But Minaz H. Lalani, an actuary, investor and golfer does see a strong connection. That’s the focus of his clever, entertaining book entitled What Golf Can Teach You About Financial Planning.

He starts by noting that both golfers and investors assess their own strengths and weaknesses prior to teeing off – a “SWOT analysis, or evaluation of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats,” before starting off a game or building a portfolio.

“Golf and finance both require mastery of timing, temperament, and terrain. A golfer must adjust to wind, slope and the pin’s position. An investor must respond to interest rates, inflation, and market sentiment. In both, content matters — and adaptability is not just a valuable skill but an essential one,” he writes.

Moments of pressure, he continues, can test golfers and investors.

“You are three holes from finishing your best round, and tension tightens your grip. You are approaching retirement, and a market downturn challenges your confidence,” he explains.

Whether you are protecting a lead or trying to catch up, you will need to make “decisions that align with your strengths and goals,” he writes.

“Are you a long hitter who takes bold shots? You might favour growth investing. Are you a precision player who avoids mistakes? You might prefer dividend stocks or bonds,” he continues.

To improve at either golf or finance, Lalani tells us, requires setting SMART goals – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.

In his example, John, age 45, has a 20 handicap and wants to get to 10. He also has limited retirement savings and mounting credit card debt. So a SMART approach to both objectives, writes Lalani, would be:

• Take one golf lesson per month
• Track stats on fairways hit, greens in regulation, and putts per round
• Practice three times a week focusing on weakness (short game).

For finance:

• Set a SMART goal to save $100,000 in five years
• Use an app to track spending
• Reallocate investments to low-fee exchange traded funds
• Pay down high interest debt first

The golf/finance parallels continue. Where golfers improve by using “a pre-shot routine to control nerves,” investors should “follow a regular review process for budgeting and investing.”

A bad hole – a double bogey – “is just one hole, learn and move on,” similarly, “a bad investment does not define your plan; assess and adjust without self-blame,” he writes.

Later, he notes that key golf attributes – grip, posture and swing path – have financial cousins. “Savings are your grip – your control over future options,” he notes. “Budgeting is posture, your ability to stand balanced against monthly pressures. Net worth is the swing path – a reflection of your long-term form and rhythm.”

Just as golfer take note of the numbers of fairways they hit, greens reached in regulation, and penalty strokes, investors should conduct regular “round reviews” of their finances.

“Did I save or invest at least 15 to 20 per cent of my income? Did I stay within budget this month? Did I pay down any debt? Did I review my portfolio performance? Did I avoid emotional spending or rash investment decisions? Am I closer to my key goal than I was 30 days ago,” he writes.

Just as Jack Nicklaus used to “visualize” every shot before swinging his club, we can all try to use the same approach with our finances, writes Lalani.

“What does financial success look like for you? Is it living mortgage-free? Retiring early? Supporting your children’s education?” he explains.

Take note, Lalani adds, of your “qualitative” success.

Recovering well after a bad hole, or maintaining your composure, are examples of experience that matter, he writes. In finance, “a six-figure income does not mean financial health if you are drowning in debt. A modest salary can still lead to financial peace if you manage it wisely.”

It’s a long game, he concludes.

“You do not fix your whole game in one round,” he explains. “You keep swinging, reflecting, and adjusting.”

This was a very entertaining read, and we plan to make a gift of the book to a long-hitting friend who is all-in on tech stocks, just to show that maybe there’s more than one club in the investment bag!

The Saskatchewan Pension Plan is a great savings partner. SPP is open to all Canadians with registered retirement savings plan room.

Have you got a bunch of small RRSPs sitting around? SPP members can consolidate their savings nest egg by transferring in RRSP funds (the RRSP can’t be locked-in) into SPP. Our team will then grow that enlarged nest egg by professionally investing your savings in a low-cost, pooled fund.

When it’s time to turn savings into income, SPP options include cash for life via a monthly lifetime annuity payment, or the more flexible Variable Benefit.

Check out SPP today!

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At the beginning of her entertaining and informative book, The Well-Lived Life, Dr. Gladys McGarey – age 103 at time of writing – says she is often asked “the secret of a long, healthy, happy life.”

“No, I don’t run. I do occasionally do Pilates. And yes – I do eat cake. In fact, I really love cake. I even popped out of one for my 95^th birthday,” she writes. But the secret, she continues, has “nothing to do with vitamins or supplements,” but “a simple shift in perspective.”

“To be truly alive,” she notes, “we must find the life force within ourselves and direct our energy toward it.”

She distills this general idea into six “secrets,” the first one being, “you are here for a reason.”

“Each of us is here for a reason, to learn and grow and to give our gifts,” she explains. “When we are able to do so, we’re filled with the creative life energy that I call the `juice.’”

The juice, she continues, “is our reason for living. It’s our fulfillment, our joy.”

“Lives filled with juice become lives filled with purpose. And that has a profound effect not only on our mental healthy but on our physical health,” McGarey states.

Her second secret is that “all life needs to move.”

“Life itself is always in movement, so aligning with our life force means that we must always look for the flow within us,” she writes. “Children understand this. That’s why they’re always wiggling. I never stopped wiggling…. Wiggling is good for us – it indicates that life is happening around and through us. It moves our lymph, lubricates our joints and keeps our muscles from getting tight.”

The third secret is that “love is the most powerful medicine.”

“Our life force is activated by love. Love has an uncommon ability to transform everything it touches,” she explains.

The next secret is that “you are never truly alone.”

Social connections are essential, she explains. “Connective with community amplifies our individual life force by re-aligning it with the collective life force,” she writes.

The fifth secret, an especially wise one, is that “everything is your teacher.”

Even bad things carry a lesson, she states. As we get older, “we begin to extract more and more from the pain of the past. We realize that we can keep gaining lessons out of our old hurts, and they can affect how we approach what comes next.”

Finally, she advises, you must “spend your energy wildly.”

This last secret needs to be integrated with the first five. “When we align our energy with life, we create a give-and-take, sharing relationship with the source… we invest the energy we have in life. Then when we’re running low on what we need, we simply borrow it back.”

In the end, she concludes, we need to “flip our understanding on its head, from thinking that we are in life to understanding that life is in us.”

This is a mesmerizing journey of a book, well-told and filled with exercises and examples to keep your thinking on track.

A long, well-lived life will require some savings.

And if you’re saving on your own for retirement – or want to get started – look no further than the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. SPP offers a voluntary defined contribution pension plan to any Canadian with available registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) room.

You can make annual contributions to SPP up to your RRSP limit, and can transfer in any amount from other non-locked in RRSPs you may have.

SPP’s role is to grow those savings in our professionally managed, low-cost, pooled fund. When it’s time to log off for the last time at work, your retirement income options include the security of a lifetime SPP annuity payment or the more flexible Variable Benefit.

Check out SPP today!

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When former U.S. President Jimmy Carter authored The Virtues of Aging in 1998, he could not have then known that he would continue his long and productive retirement for a further 26 years.

The book provides some nice insights about making your “golden” years the best years of your life.

“I was just 56 years old when I was involuntarily retired from my position in the White House,” he begins. “What made losing the job even worse was that it was a highly publicized event, with maybe half the people in the world knowing about my embarrassing defeat.”

Worse news lay ahead – the family peanut business, run in a blind trust while he was president, had hit a bad patch due to “prolonged drought” in Georgia and was a million dollars in the red.

With a young daughter heading off to college, their short-term financial picture looked dim, and “it was natural for us to assume – like many other retirees – that our productive lives were over.”

Instead, things began to improve. The farm business was bought by a large agricultural firm, both Carters received offers to write about their lives, and soon they were on the college lecturing circuit.

Instead of facing retirement with despair, the Carters worked to “ensure that our retired years would be happy, and maybe even productive.”

It’s Carter’s view that older citizens should not be nudged out of the workforce at retirement age. A survey taken at the time the book was written found “93 per cent of respondents believe that the elderly should be allowed to work as long as we wish… and 75 per cent think wisdom comes with age.”

After all, he continues, “during the past 25 years the number of people over the age of 85 grew almost six times more rapidly than the overall population. The faster-growing group of all, however, is those over a hundred!” In fact, there were 100 times more centenarians by 2000 than there were in 1956, the book notes.

After worrying that the U.S. Social Security system might eventually be unable to keep up with payment demands of retiring boomers, Carter observes that the U.S. savings rate was far lower than that of other nations – around two per cent per year, “less than a quarter as much” as the Japanese savings rate. “Most baby boomers… will have little if any savings when they retire,” forcing them to rely on government programs which are underfunded, the book continues.

The Carters began their long retirement together by staying active at such things as tennis, fly fishing, going for a run, and hiking in the hills.

In “retirement,” they established the Carter Center, an organization devoted to the advancement of human rights, promoting peace, and alleviating suffering around the world. The former president won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for these and other humanitarian efforts.

Perhaps the high level of activity and engagement helped the Carters value their time in retirement more highly.

“There is no doubt we now cherish each day more than when we were younger. Our primary purpose in our golden years is not just to stay alive as long as we can, but to savour every opportunity for pleasure, excitement, adventure and fulfillment,” he writes.

A later chapter talks about the pleasure of developing adult relationships with grown children, enjoying “the indescribable bless of aging – grandchildren.” Because of the logistics of getting the family of 20 kids and grandkids for Christmas or Thanksgiving (competing with other in-laws for the privilege), the Carters try to organize an annual trip where the whole family comes along, say for skiing in Colorado or cruising the Caribbean.

Asked by others how he has managed to stay in good health well past retirement age, the former president summarized the advice of experts as following:

• “Do not smoke.
• Maintain recommended body weight.
• Exercise regularly.
• Minimize consumption of foods high in cholesterol and saturated fats, sugar and salt.
• Do not drink excessively and never drive when drinking.
• Fasten seat belts.
• Have regular medical checkups, including blood pressure tests.”

Later, he quotes some findings from the McArthur Foundation, which “concluded that the three indicators of successful ageing are avoiding disease and disability, maintaining mental and physical function, and continuing engagement with life.”

The engagement part involves “keeping up relationship with others and performing productive activities,” he explains.

It can also include volunteering, he writes.

“There is still a tremendous potential to expand the present level of volunteerism among elders,” he notes. “Although more than 80 per cent of us do work around our homes and 70 per cent provide some assistance to friends and relatives… two out of three older people do (no volunteering) and most active volunteers contribute less than four hours a week.”

“You are old,” the book continues, “when regrets take the place of dreams.”

“When I have mentioned the title of this book too a few people, most of them responded `Virtues? What could possibly be good about growing old,’” he writes. “The most obvious answer, of course, is to consider the alternative to ageing.”

This is a great read, and the energy and sense of purpose of the Carters is quite something to behold.

The book talks about how people are saving less than they used to and how having your own savings can improve your income if – without savings – you are fully reliant on government programs.

The book mentions how people today save far less than their parents and grandparents did. As well, the book warns of the dangers of – without personal savings – having to rely solely on modest government programs for your retirement income.

If you are alone on the savings journey, why not partner with the Saskatchewan Pension Plan? With SPP, you decide how much to chip in – you can make annual contributions up to your personal registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) room level, and can transfer in any amount from other RRSPs.

SPP looks after the growth of those saved loonies, via a pooled, professionally managed and low-cost fund. At retirement, you can choose how you want to convert savings into income – options include a lifetime monthly annuity payment or the more flexible Variable Benefit.

Check out SPP today!

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Retirement planning in a novel format: Retire Younger Canada

Russell Roy’s Retire Younger Canada not only offers solid information on how to take control of your finances (and your life), but is a well-told, gritty novelized life story of fictional engineer Sam Jackson. We follow Sam’s life from his very early retirement at 48 until his death, in his 70s.

The author begins by telling us that he is “just a regular working Joe Schmoe who hated his job enough to be motivated to investigate and understand what I needed to do to retire early.”

As Sam prepares to clear out his desk at work, he gives a younger co-worker some important lessons “I learned as a kid,” specifically, “delayed gratification,” or learning to “save and plan,” the “impact of children on personal finances,” the importance of getting a higher education and “you get out what you put in, so work hard.”

Later, in a post-retirement party discussion, his wife Cindy remarks that many people don’t really enjoy their jobs, adding “I think that the people who truly enjoyed their jobs were the ones who chose to work for themselves.” This discussion led to thinking around the value of trying to retire as early as possible so that you can enjoy life after work in good health.

In retirement, Sam tells us, you get “freedom on so many levels. Freedom from work anxiety. You know I already feel freer to speak my mind… it feels like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.”

Thinking about how he was able to retire at 48, Sam recalls that “as a young, bona fide working citizen, Sam saved a down payment and bought a house. This was the first, and most important and key financial decision he made.”

In a section about living off savings (decumulation) Sam talks about the ideas of spending four per cent (or 3.5 per cent) of your nest egg each year, with the goal of not outliving your money. He discusses the “bucket” plan where your nest egg is divided into “a cash bucket for the short term… a bonds bucket for the intermediate term and maybe stocks bucket for the long term.”

He goes into detail on how to track your income and expenses via a spreadsheet, and factoring in any upcoming big expenses. A second spreadsheet should track the progress of your investments, and a third, the “big picture” or grand total of all savings and investments.

He talks about the dangers of high investment fees. “You know, here in Canada, mutual funds will take an average of 2.2 per cent of your cash each year just to manage your money,” he explains to a young friend. Even if the indexes double, the annual fees eat up much of your growth, he explains. Instead, Sam reveals, he and his wife switched out of mutual funds into a portfolio of stocks – the Canadian ones eligible for the dividend tax credit – and fixed income, which he describes as “loan(ing) the money you save to others…. (so that) the money (interest) will slowly flow to you. The work of others will go into your pocket.”

He later goes on to explain that you need to be aware of the tax consequences of every type of income you will be receiving in retirement, so that you can plan to opt for a route that offers the least taxation possible.

In looking at his parents’ and in-laws’ finances, Sam noticed the risk of risk aversion had put them in the highest income tax bracket, since nearly all of their income came in the form of interest. Being anxious about investment risk, Sam observes, is a common trait. “It seems fear, more than anything, cripples people as they get older. They are afraid of more and more so they do less and less.”

“That is just another reason to retire early and live life now,” Cindy responds.

“Every day is Sunday in retirement,” the book notes, but without the dread of returning to work Monday.

The book concludes with this bit of advice.

“One parting thought. Few of us can afford the savings it would take to live forever. Retirement isn’t necessarily the end of anything. What it really is, is the freedom to make the best of the last years of your life on your own terms. Get after your bucket list, live your life to the fullest, and have fun.”

This is a very unique, creative, story-telling approach to the topic. It’s a highly recommended addition to anyone’s retirement library.

The Saskatchewan Pension Plan is a voluntary, defined contribution plan that is open to any Canadian with registered retirement savings plan room. If you don’t have a workplace retirement plan, SPP may be just the ticket for you. You decide how much you want to save, and SPP does the rest, investing your hard-saved loonies in a low-cost, professionally managed pooled fund. At retirement, your income options include a lifetime monthly annuity payment or the more flexible Variable Benefit.

Check out SPP today!

Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!