Retirement Planning

“Financial independence, retire early” (FIRE) and “you only live once” (YOLO) are essentially opposite approaches, but they share a common goal—to seek happiness and achieve financial freedom. They’re just focused on different stages of life. With FIRE, the point is to live frugally, save aggressively and ideally retire earlier than the traditional retirement age—by a decade or more. While FIRE followers plan for future happiness and freedom, YOLO is all about wanting it now.

The day when you no longer need to work to cover your current and future cost of living, including realizing your retirement dreams—that’s your financial independence day. To identify it, some people try using one of the many online retirement calculators that ask you to input information so you can find out if you can retire at a specific age. Others look to retirement guidelines, such as needing annual retirement income that’s 70% of your pre-retirement income. But these me

Retirement is often viewed as a new chapter in your life, but it’s typically not just one chapter. These years are often divided into three very different phases. A great many retirees—though not all—go through the active, slowdown and inactive phases, sometimes called the go-go, slow-go and no-go phases. The active phase: retirement to age 75 When you’re younger, you may imagine retirement as a time when life slows down. That will likely happen eventually, but there isn’t a

Choosing an executor (liquidator in Quebec) to appoint in your will is an important estate planning decision. Many people instinctively appoint their spouse, siblings or adult children. This may seem logical, but appointing a family member is not always the best option. While some view being named as executor as an honour or a sign of trust, those who have served in the role know it’s far from being a privilege—it’s a demanding job. Being an executor involves a large amount o