10.1 Retirement needs

In this section:

• 10.1.1 Different approaches and needs
• 10.1.2 Retirement planning attitudes
• 10.1.3 Your retirement needs
• 10.1.4 Your retirement age
• 10.1.5 Life expectancy
• 10.1.6 Your retirement lifestyle
• 10.1.7 The effect of inflation
• 10.1.8 Determine your retirement needs
• 10.1.9 Video: Estimating your retirement needs
• 10.1.10 Summary of key messages

Introduction

If you're like most Canadians, your younger and middle years are filled with numerous demands on your time and finances: raising children, building a business or career, buying and maintaining a home, enjoying life. You may be too busy to think about retirement, or you may find it hard to put money aside now for later.

How will you support your retirement? Will you have enough money to enjoy a long life? How much will you need, anyway?

This section is designed to help you determine your retirement needs. In it you will:

• evaluate how prepared you are for your retirement
• identify your retirement goals
• estimate the amount of money you will need per year.

You will review case studies to see how other people did—or didn't—save enough, and what lessons they learned. By the time you finish this section, you will have a clearer idea of your retirement needs.