Is Your Retirement Affordable?

Vacation once a year $3000, Golf membership $2500 a year, Insurance (Home, Auto, Life, Health) $4000 a year, Bills Payable $3000 a year, New car $4000 a year (Lease/Financing), Knowing that you will be able to afford YOUR retirement, PRICELESS!!!  For all your Retirement needs contact a qualified Financial Advisor.

Many Canadians realise that saving for retirement is very important, if we don’t save for retirement then how can we as Canadians afford to maintain our standard of living that we have been accustom to during our working years?

In 2011 nearly six million Canadians contributed to their RRSPs (Registered Retirement Savings Plan), this number may seem like a lot but this means that 66% of Canadians did not contribute a single penny to their retirement plan. This is what I call the first mistake to 2011. It's easy to find excuses to not contribute to your retirement: no cash, paying for school, buying a home, family, or just simple procrastination.
But do we Canadians even have a clue about how we start to save for retirement? All we know is that we need a substantial amount of money to fund our everyday needs after our working years. But what is that amount?
Every year Canadians can contribute up to 18% of their previous years earning up to a maximum of $22,000. Of course if we all had $22,000 just lying around we would all max out our RRSP contribution and we would all be filthy rich by the time we're ready to retire. But the harsh reality is that we all have bills and other expenses to pay for which makes it harder for Canadians to supplement a retirement plan.

Is it REALLY that hard to contribute to your retirement plan?

Example:
John is 25 years old, a graduate from the University of Western Ontario who currently still lives at home, owns his own car, and has recently began his REAL WORLD career. After a few months of working John has been able to save $2000. Being a financially independent individual John realizes that it’s easier to save for retirement earlier in life then it is when family and other financial obligations take priority. So John decided to consult a financial advisor. The financial advisor suggests that John opens an RRSP with his $2000 as an initial investment, as well as make a $25 a week Pre Authorized Contribution with an expected Rate of Return of 5%. The Financial advisor also asks John if he would be able to make another $2000 contribution at the end of the year during RRSP season (Jan 1-Mar 1) and John agrees.

At the end of the year John will contribute $3300 to his RRSPs. If John consistently makes contributions of $3300 to his RRSP for 40 years, based on compounding and interest rates John will expect to have over $460,000 when he is set to retire.

Once John is in a better financial situation where he is able to contribute more too his retirement, not only will he better his financial situation for the future but he will increase the amount that he will have when he is able to retire.

I must ask one more time. Is Your Retirement Affordable?