Retirement-Ready: The Home Stretch
A GUEST BLOG POST BY RAYMOND JAMES LTD
As a Friend of WE Seniors, Raymond James Ltd. is sharing guest articles with our WE Seniors community on topics related to financial planning, retirement and building a secure financial future.
Raymond James’ approach is centred on people and their financial well-being, with a commitment to putting clients first, acting with integrity, thinking long-term and valuing independence. Their goal is to help individuals and families achieve their unique financial goals while supporting the communities where they live and work.
Through these guest articles, the Raymond James team shares helpful information and perspectives to help our community make more informed decisions about their financial future.
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Retirement-Ready: The Home Stretch
Jonathan Lesyk and Steve Reimer
Well, here you are, the moment you have been waiting for your entire working life: gold watch, the company pension, freedom! Or simply put, retirement.
So, now what? You have been dreaming of this moment for years and it has finally arrived. What are you going to do now? If you are like me, the fantasy goes something like this: sleep in for as long as you can, have a huge breakfast of bacon and eggs with waffles and hash browns on the side, and enjoy your favourite cup of coffee, or two, or three…And then probably decide that you should do something productive at maybe one o’clock in the afternoon.
If only life were that simple.
Retirement Ready?
It will be important to do a little strategizing ahead of time to be able to keep your health, your sanity, and, most likely, your wallet.
What are you going to do with an extra 1920 hours per year? There is more to retirement than just golf and playing bridge. All those things you were putting off until retirement, when you finally had the time, have now become an overwhelming to-do list. Having a sense of purpose and routine becomes more important than many people expect. Making a plan or a timetable with tasks, social activities, personal activities, etc. would be very helpful.
What will be your ongoing (or altogether new) purpose in life?
Here is an interesting example that is often overlooked. If your spouse/partner retired before you, while you continued with the 40-hour-plus work week, how might your relationship change when you suddenly find yourself at home 24/7? I have heard retirement coaches encourage a phased-in retirement, with extended periods away from work before you clock out for the last time, to help both partners adjust to the new routine.
Retirement Income Sources
Next, what about income? Unless you are Elon Musk or Bill Gates, you will probably still need a source of revenue to pay for all the things you have set out to do. For many people, the obvious source is the company pension that you have been promised. But did you know that there are two types of pensions – Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution – and they are not equal? The Defined Benefit plan guarantees your monthly payment (benefit) for the rest of your life whereas the Defined Contribution gives you a lump sum amount of money that you have paid into and says, “Here you go, now make it last as long as you can.”
Then, there are the government pensions, the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Old Age Security (OAS), and the income-tested Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) if your income is less than $22,800 for a single person or $54,624 for combined.
The CPP is based on how much and how long you have contributed to it during your working years. The maximum payout in 2026 is $1507.65 per month at age 65. You are allowed to start drawing it at age 60 but it is reduced by 0.60% per month before your 65th birthday.
Old Age Security is a monthly pension from the federal government for every Canadian aged 65 and older, depending on how long you have lived in Canada as an adult. The maximum monthly amount that OAS will pay is $751.97 per month. Since OAS is tax-payer-funded, there is an income test for higher-income recipients that applies to monthly payments. The government has a very fancy term for this called Old Age Security Pension Recovery Tax but most of us know it by its vernacular, the OAS clawback. If your total annual income is over $93,454 from July 2026 to June 2027, you will start having reduced monthly OAS payments. The example from the government’s website states that if your income is $100,000 during this time, you will have to pay back $981.90 of the $9023.64 annual OAS income, or approximately 11%. Once your income exceeds $152,062 you will have to pay back 100% of your OAS payments.
Both CPP and OAS are taxed as regular income.
The Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) is a monthly, tax-free payment for Canadians over 65 with lower incomes. Very simply, if you are single, you need to have an annual income lower than $22,800 to qualify, or, if you have a spouse/common-law partner, a combined household income of less than $54,624. The monthly payment for a person living alone is a maximum of $1123.17 and if living with a spouse/partner, a maximum of $676.09 to $1123.17, depending on their income. Please see https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/publicpensions/old-age-security.html for more detailed information.
There is also a Post-Retirement Disability Benefit available to people under the age of 65 who suffer from a physical or mental disability, as defined by the Canada Pension Plan. Currently, the monthly payment is $610.46 for 2026.
Reverse mortgages are available to Canadians over 55 years old, if they have equity in their principal residence. The loan proceeds are tax-free but the interest rates may be higher than a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) from your bank.
The Alberta government offers plans for seniors over 65 with a loan similar to a HELOC or reverse mortgage. However, these loans are specific to property taxes or home renovations that make a home more accessible, such as stair lifts or walk-in bathtubs.
Life’s Unexpected Turns
What about when life throws you a curveball? It can be easier to recover during your working years but you might face some challenges when on a fixed-income budget. There is a saying that is older than I am, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Everyone can attest to seeing several examples throughout their lives, like unexpected health changes, market downturns, property maintenance or damage, and loss of a loved one.
However, there are some curveballs that you may not have anticipated. How many retirement plans considered the inclusion rate changes to capital gains that the federal government introduced in 2024? People were selling cottages, private land or investment accounts with large gains just to pay the lower tax before June 25, 2024, only to have the government change their minds in March 2025 and leave the rate at 50%.
Inflation is another monkey-wrench that can affect poor planning. After the 2008 financial crisis, governments around the world lowered interest rates to keep their economies alive and, remarkably, we experienced almost zero inflation from 2009 to 2022. Then Kapow! Inflation skyrocketed and interest rates jumped from 0.5% to 5%, sending shockwaves throughout the financial system and wounding many people.
Retirement Lifestyle Considerations
Finally, how are you going to respond to the personal and lifestyle changes that retirement brings? If you move to the Okanagan but the grandkids are in Winnipeg, how often are you going to see them? Everyone dreams of traveling more, but how? Are you going to buy or rent a condo in Arizona? Do you have the cash for a reliable RV to go and tour during the winter months? Or are you the motorcycling type to carve the canyons and scale the heights of the Beartooth Highway in Montana and Wyoming? Buying a vacation home in a sunny destination outside of Canada brings tax considerations as well.
Talking to a Financial Advisor or a Certified Financial Planner may not necessarily solve these issues for you but their experience can help turn over the stones and show you things that aren’t visible to the naked (inexperienced) eye.
We thank Raymond James Ltd. for sharing their knowledge, insights and helpful resources with the WE Seniors community.
To learn more about Raymond James Ltd. , please contact
Jonathan Lesyk, CFP®, B.Com., Wealth Advisor
jo************@**********es.ca
(780) 414-2545
COME MEET JONATHAN & STEVE!
Jonathan Lesyk & Steve Reimer from Raymond James Ltd. will be presenting at our upcoming Active Aging Series: Your Retirement Roadmap – Retirement Foundations (Part 1) on Wednesday, October 7, 2026 in the evening at our WE Seniors Community Cafe.
Everyone is welcome to attend!
Learn more at https://weseniors.ca/wsac-calendar/your-retirement-roadmap-retirement-foundations/