Here are our top 6 tips for reaching your retirement saving goals:
1. Pay yourself first. Figure out what you need to contribute to your goals. What you want to save for retirement should come out of your bank account every month as soon as you get your paycheque and before you have the chance to spend it.
2. Yearly Raise: Take advantage of any raises. For example, take half of your raise and put it towards your investments for your future retirement. You can live off the other half to increase your lifestyle, or make sure your current lifestyle’s keeping up with inflation.
3. The B-word…Budgeting! We live in an age of easily forgettable apps and subscriptions. If you go back through your expenses, you may be surprised to see what you’re spending money on but not seeing any value from. Once you’ve located these areas, divert the money you’ve been spending on them to weekly or monthly savings.
4. The Empty Nest: This is for those who are closer to retirement. Perhaps your children have left home freeing up some cash flow and you can shift it towards your retirement savings. This can be the time to make that final push towards retirement.
5. Free Money: As an employee, you may have access to a defined contribution pension or a group RSP plan at work where your employer will match a % of your contributions. For example, they may match 100% of your contribution up to 5% of your income. Depending on the company you work for, if they’re a publicly traded company, there may also be some stock options where you can buy company stock at a discount and the discount equates to, basically, free money.
6. Investing in Yourself: For business owners starting out, most of your money will go towards trying to grow your business but as you approach retirement it becomes important to divert risk from your business to a more diversified and lower-risk portfolio. This will help ensure a successful retirement even if you don’t get the full value from the sale of your business
