Retiring Wealthy

Sarah Robertson is an editor in the College Division of Nelson Canada.

“When it comes to planning for retirement, most Canadians know about
as much as the average ten-year-old.” There is, alas, plenty of
evidence to support Pape’s unkind barb. A mere 46 percent of Canadians
have contributed to RRSPs—this despite federal incursions into
traditional sources of retirement income (the Old Age Security clawback,
courtesy of Michael Wilson, is a notorious example), which will leave
those Canadians who are dependent on government handouts in the
proverbial financial dumpster when they retire.

Retiring Wealthy is a practical and lively guide to retirement
planning. Replete with worksheets, tables, and sound (conservative)
financial advice, the book is addressed to people who anticipate living
their golden years in comfort, not on a shoestring. Pape covers in lucid
fashion the key ingredients of a successful retirement: inflation
protection, debt elimination, home ownership, tax minimization, and
building nongovernment pension plans, as well as both registered and
nonregistered investment portfolios. For imminent retirees, Pape
considers the financial pitfalls of early retirement, postretirement
strategies (RRIFs, pension rollovers, life annuities, etc.), and the
pros and cons of spending one’s retirement years abroad (e.g., in
warmer climes like that of Florida).

Although Retiring Wealthy is intended for all age groups, one of its
central messages is an emphatic “start early.” The younger you are,
the more you can potentially profit from this sensible and worthy
successor to Building Wealth and Low-Risk Investing.