Friday, March 6, 2026

This is the way you bridge the time until you inherit

CPP/OAS strategy without other pensions

You can start your Canada Pension Plan (CPP) retirement profit as early as age 60 or defer it until age 70. For every month you defer after age 60, your pension increases.

If you begin your pension at age 60 and proceed to work, you’ll have to contribute to the pension no less than until age 65. As a result, your pension normally increases with an adjustment yearly, but to not the extent that it’s deferred.

Since you have already began your CPP, there is no big strategy here, Esther. But for others reading along: A healthy senior who is anticipated to live well into his 80s should definitely consider postponing the beginning of his retirement. They will receive more CPP dollars overall in the event that they live into their late 70s. Even making an allowance for the time value of cash created by drawing on other investments or the lack to receive the payments and invest, someone living into their mid-80s and beyond may be financially higher off.

There’s also the good thing about having a better guaranteed income that is easy, indexed to inflation, and provides cost of living and longevity protection – especially for somebody with no defined profit pension plan.

Even if you happen to plan to begin saving for retirement (OAS) at age 65, Esther, it’s possible you’ll wish to think twice for 2 reasons:

  1. The same logic applies as with CPP. You can defer your OAS until age 70 and it too increases with every month of deferral. If you’re healthy and expect to live a median or above-average life expectancy, deferring may assist you to achieve a better lifetime retirement income, even if you happen to are tempted to have extra cash flow today.
  2. There is an OAS pension clawback tax in case your income exceeds roughly $95,000 in 2026. If you’re still working and receiving each CPP and OAS, you need to be careful lest you lose among the OAS pension you hope to receive. This means-tested rebate from the OAS is 15 cents on the dollar above this threshold, leading to an efficient tax rate of 43% to 52%, rising to $95,000 depending on the province or territory of residence.

Given your expected low income in retirement, deciding to begin an OAS may very well be a costly decision. There can also be a low-income complement called the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) which an OAS pensioner on a modest income could also be eligible for and which may very well be taken under consideration in your future income planning, Esther.

Compare the very best RRSP rates in Canada

Traveling in retirement

Your plan to travel when you are young and healthy is a vital reason to not work too long or wait too late to deal with your retirement. There must be balance between saving for tomorrow and living for today – it’s one in all the most important risks in retirement planning.

Traditional retirement planning methods give attention to minimizing the danger of running out of cash before you switch 100. However, this also can maximize the danger of missing out on life experiences.

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Expect an inheritance

You should be careful when budgeting for an inheritance that may very well be lower than expected and are available later than expected. It’s a dangerous a part of retirement planning, even when you have got complete oversight of a parent’s funds.

The size of your expected inheritance, Esther, is a vital consider your personal retirement planning. Since you’re 64, I’m assuming your mother is well into her 80s or older.

In your case, real estate is the important thing to bridging the time until inheritance.

Real Estate Strategy in Retirement

The financial advantage of owning over renting is, for my part, overstated. Until recently, real estate prices in lots of Canadian cities were rising at an awfully rapid rate, leading some to imagine that this was the important thing to wealth creation.

Real estate shouldn’t be an investment unless it’s a rental property that generates rental income. Growth in a primary residence is anticipated to be barely above inflation, in step with wage growth. Perhaps that is the rationale why prices have stagnated or fallen recently. Although rates of interest have increased, they’ve only increased to normal levels, to not exceptionally high rates.

When discussing rising property prices, property taxes, maintenance, renovations and interest costs are sometimes ignored.

All of which means that, in financial planner Esther’s opinion, selling and renting wouldn’t be a failure. However, you would like to consider an apartment or senior living community which you can live in for so long as you wish, versus a condo with a landlord, which risks being a long-term residence. Being forced to maneuver at age 70 or 80 with 90 days’ notice is probably not risk.

One solution it’s possible you’ll not have considered is taking out a loan to your debt-free condo. Based in your income and eligibility levels, you’ll be able to apply for a mortgage or home equity line of credit. A line of credit may be more flexible than a blanket mortgage paid into your checking account because you’ll be able to withdraw money as needed and pay interest once you borrow.

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