Pension Crisis

There is a crisis in the US about pension as written up by Danielle DiMartino Boothin in this Bloombergarticle. But this is not confined to the US. Here is a Canadian article by Canadian Federation of Independent Business. They are not the only ones sounding alarms. There is also an article Kathryn May in the Financial Post

The thing is you can find all sorts of articles on Pension Plans worldwide. We are living longer so retirement years are much longer than anticipated. Even though we are living longer pensionable age is lower than it used to be. There are fewer workers to support retirees and this problem will only get worse as worldwide and regional population stabilizes and then declines.

What people also do not realize is that retirement is really a relatively new idea. People used to work until they died. Very few people used to live long enough to actually be old and retire. They would have also had to have some money to retire. Now people expect to have 20 to 30 years in retirement. Some live even longer in retirement. This takes a lot of savings to do this.

I am so glad that I did my own planning and am managing my own money. It may not be the simplest thing, but it is also not that difficult. I started to learn about investing by buying some large companies that paid dividends. I tried to educate myself ahead of time, but a lot of the information was not sinking in until I started actually to invest. So basically I learned investing by doing it.

Not everything is fine. I feel that I am being punished tax wise because I did too well investing my RRSP money. I am also being punished tax wise because I set up my own pension plan that has increased by higher than the rate of inflation, no matter what the inflation really is. My largest expenditure yearly is now Tax at 23% of my total budget in 2016.

On my other blog I wrote yesterday about Fortis Inc. (TSX-FTS, OTC-FRTSF)... learn more. Tomorrow, I will write about Power Financial Corp. (TSX-PWF, OTC-POFNF)... learn more on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 around 5 pm.

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

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