The Upside: The retirement reboot: Five ways Canadians can thrive in retirement

Life after retirement: what does it really look like today? What’s shaping the modern retiree experience? And how can Canadians not just survive but truly thrive in retirement? 

In this session, we share five ways Canadians can make the most of their retirement chapter, including how to adapt their lifestyle, finances and expectations in today’s market environment. 

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Subtitles are AI-Generated.

 

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Hello, everyone, and welcome to The Upside Plus.

 

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I'm your host, Emily Anonuevo.

 

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Retirement. It's a major transition in many people's lives, a journey many

 

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Canadians need to prepare for, both financially and emotionally.

 

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But retirement isn't just about leaving the workforce.

 

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It's about starting a new chapter in your life and hopefully leading it with

 

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purpose, possibility, and confidence.

 

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Today, with my panel of guests, we are going to explore how to approach this

 

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stage of your life with clarity and optimism.

 

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And not just survive retirement, but thrive in it.

 

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So let's get to it. Please welcome Michelle Munro, Glen Davidson, and Peter

 

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Drake. Thank you so much for being here today.

 

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Great to be here. Thanks, Emily. Pleasure.

 

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Great to be back at Fidelity.

 

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Yes, great to be back. Great to have you back, Peter.

 

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Now, Peter, this is sort of like a reunion for everyone right now.

 

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Peter, you are one of the original members of our research and retirement team,

 

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serving as former vice president of economic and retirement

 

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research. Michelle, you know Peter well, of course.

 

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Of course.

 

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I do, Peter's the OG in retirement.

 

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Research at Fidelity. He is. He is, and you've been part of the tax and

 

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retirement research team for close to 20 years.

 

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Glen, close to 30 years at Fidelty before you retired, serving as

 

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vice president of regional sales for many, many years.

 

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And all of you at different stages of retirement or thinking about retirement.

 

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Glen, I'm going to start with you. Newly retired, a few years into it, I

 

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believe. How has that journey to retirement been for you so far?

 

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It's been great, and it's two and a half years, actually, to be specific.

 

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I can say, though, that I was working hard.

 

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I was dealing with family. I wasn't thinking about it years ago and

 

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didn't have my sights set on it.

 

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But then I started to talk to people who were either planning for retirement or

 

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who had just retired. Started to hear what they were going through, how their

 

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planning was, their trips, the fun that they're having.

 

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And it was very positive discussion.

 

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So I started the look at my own situation.

 

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I looked at the ages of my kids.

 

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I thought of the fact that my dog will want to play fetch a lot more.

 

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My wife was happy with it. And so I decided to set a target and I worked

 

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towards that. I gave lots of notice and didn't have any second thoughts.

 

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And I think that's an important thing too. When somebody thinks I've decided on

 

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a date, if you start to waver, that's a bit of a litmus test, I think.

 

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Certainly didn't. And it was a wonderful experience to conclude my time here at

 

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Fidelity. And then it's been wonderful since as well.

 

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So a great path, there are many factors going into that decision.

 

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Peter, I'm gonna turn to you. You retired from Fidelity back in 2015.

 

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How was that path for retirement for you?

 

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Well, I came to Fidelity ostensibly

 

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for two or three years, and I had already retired from a job, a career

 

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job, and it stretched into nine years.

 

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I loved working here, great team, worked with Glen, worked with these guys,

 

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but I got to the point where I said, if I wanna go out

 

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and paddle my canoe more, ride my bike more, I am getting older,

 

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so maybe I should think about it, and I did a huge amount of travelling for

 

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Fidelity. My wife was wonderful about it, but I think she was

 

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getting a little tired of me being away.

 

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So I recognise that it was time to head into retirement.

 

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And that's, I can't believe it's more than 10 years ago.

 

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Incredible. Michelle, you've noticed a lot of trends,

 

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a lot of research on how Canadians view retirement.

 

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What have you noticed over the years? We do do a lot

 

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research in the retirement space.

 

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And in the last 20 years, people are telling us,

 

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Canadians are telling, us that retirement is becoming more complex.

 

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And there's reasons behind that.

 

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Well, just general increased cost of living, longer life expectancy.

 

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So people are living longer, as well as an increase in

 

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retirement lifestyle. So really want to enjoy that retirement lifestyle.

 

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So all that to say is that people. Thinking about it more, understanding the

 

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complexities and want to be intentional about how they live and ultimately

 

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thrive in retirement.

 

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Absolutely. Now I want to frame this conversation around five pillars of

 

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thriving in retirement, is the theme.

 

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So we'll go through each pillar, give me your stories, give me your thoughts,

 

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your insights, really interested to hear them all.

 

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The first pillar is about blending part-time work or work in

 

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retirement. This is a huge topic.

 

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Peter, I'm going to start with you. I know you have a lot of writing and

 

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consulting in your retirement life.

 

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What has that brought to you in your retirement chapter?

 

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Well, it's brought a number of things, a sense of purpose.

 

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I'm really fortunate because I do 10 economics

 

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presentations every year for a small investment group.

 

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And the great thing about that is that there's somebody willing to listen to

 

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me. If I tried to do that for my wife, she'd say, never mind, I don't want to

 

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hear about it. But this group are willing to list.

 

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It's hard work to put it together because I'm the

 

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research assistant, the editor, the slide maker, the proofreader.

 

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But the point is...

 

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Knowing that I've got to make this presentation for 35 or

 

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40 minutes gives you a different take on thinking about economics

 

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than if you just read about it.

 

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It's because you read about in terms of what can I say, or you look at the

 

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data and you say, look, what can say that will enlighten the group I'm talking

 

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to? So it's a lot of work, but it gives

 

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me a sense of purpose and it makes my brain work in a way that it probably

 

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wouldn't work otherwise.

 

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Well, studies have shown that working in retirement life keeps

 

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you socially connected and mentally active.

 

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Is that your experience?

 

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Absolutely right, and there are other things.

 

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I'm in a provost group, it's a retired people's group, and

 

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that is a great way to replace the social life that

 

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you might not realise you'd had when you were working, but you did,

 

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and so you need to replace that after.

 

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You've talked about this before, Glen, just still staying socially connected

 

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in retirement. Do you suggest working in your retirement chapter?

 

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How's that been for you?

 

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For me, it's been wonderful. I think people have to look, though.

 

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People that are planning for retirement have to think, will I need to, to

 

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supplement my retirement income? Or would I like to because, like me,

 

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I like get rewarded for efforts.

 

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And it's very good to keep connected and so on.

 

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And so I think that people watching this need to think what's going to be

 

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important to me.

 

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And for me, Fidelity fortunately came, fortunately for

 

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me came to me and said, would you like to do some stuff on the side?

 

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Hosting events, hosting. And moderating a few webcasts and so on.

 

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And that's wonderful because I do keep in touch with everybody.

 

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I love to know what's going on. I grew up at this firm pretty much.

 

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And so it's great to be connected. But as Peter said, it's also very mentally

 

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stimulating because we need to, what we do is preparing and

 

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being ready and being on. And I think that that's a wonderful position to be

 

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in.

 

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So a lot of positive factors there.

 

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At the same time, maybe for the older generation, I know for my parents'

 

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generation, they work 30, 35 plus years, they don't wanna work anymore

 

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in retirement lab. They wanna relax.

 

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But that view has changed.

 

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I feel like that view have changed and part-time work is being

 

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talked about in your retirement chapter.

 

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How have you seen those trends, Michelle, in our-

 

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So the research is showing that people increasingly want

 

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to do a phased-in approach to retirement.

 

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And that looks at for various different ways,

 

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retiring from a primary career, then doing a second act.

 

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Sometimes it's doing things that are part-time, sort of a little here.

 

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It's just more of a gradual approach to it, phased in.

 

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And the reasons behind that, sometimes it's financial, but

 

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the financial is to thrive, to do a little bit of extra.

 

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It's also, as the gentleman said, being engaged,

 

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being social, using mind in a different way, really having purpose

 

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in retirement.

 

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So is work and retirement the same as when you were and you're working

 

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in your working life? Or is it different?

 

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Is it better? I mean, how's it been for you?

 

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I think if for somebody it's the same as what they were doing, then why did

 

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they retire? And so for me it's very different, and I was going to add on to

 

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what Michelle said, and I think what viewers have to consider is, what else

 

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may I want to do that's complementary to what I've done over the years?

 

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It doesn't have to be in the same field.

 

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But I think it's been wonderful, but I think that it doesn't

 

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need to be the same what you did before or the frequency of what you

 

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did before. And people that I'm speaking to who are saying, I'm thinking of

 

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retiring, how did it go for you and what are you doing now and so on, they

 

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would like to tailor it down so that they do have more time on their calendar

 

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for what they find important in life.

 

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Emily, there's one.

 

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Caution here.

 

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Planning to work in retirement as a significant part of your retirement savings

 

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is not a particularly good idea because you don't

 

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know how you'll feel.

 

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Some people just get tired of working.

 

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You don't what's available and it's going to depend to some extent on what you

 

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did. Now I'm really lucky because I can continue to do economics which is

 

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a lot of what I did during my career, so do it by all means,

 

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but don't not save.

 

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Because you're gonna work in retirement.

 

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Well, and what you're doing is there's non-stop information that you need to

 

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disseminate to this group that you're speaking to as well with economics.

 

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Whereas somebody may be in a job where it's less involved and just say, no, I

 

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don't need to do that ever again.

 

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You'll have no shortage of things to talk about.

 

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It's changes and changes and that's what keeps it interesting.

 

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I've been doing it for a long time. You were really young when I started, Glen.

 

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I still am.

 

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Now the second pillar about thriving in retirement goes hand-in-hand

 

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with possibly doing part-time work in retirement and that's

 

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prioritising purpose, either volunteer work or charity work.

 

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Peter, I know you have a lot of passions. Can you expand on what type of new

 

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experiences you've had during retirement?

 

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One is having two grandchildren, one from each of our sons.

 

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We have a three-year-old and a seven-year old.

 

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Now, I used to talk about that when I was doing retirement presentations for

 

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Fidelity, and I joke about the fact that, hey, you're gonna be a grandparent,

 

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it's all fun, no responsibility, but I've learned there are other things.

 

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You have a very special relationship with grandchildren, and something that I

 

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didn't expect, you get to observe them in a way that you didn't

 

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when you were bringing up their parents.

 

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And I've talked to other people, and they all say the same thing.

 

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I think we were too busy bringing them up.

 

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The other passion is music.

 

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Now, I've been involved in music my whole life.

 

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I used to be a trombone player, but, and this is kind of a retirement story

 

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because as I got older, I developed glaucoma, which is an eye issue.

 

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And so you can't blow a horn anymore.

 

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So I switched to singing.

 

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And that happens in retirement.

 

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You have to pivot. And the other part was the pandemic.

 

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So, I was singing in a choir, we kept going, we started by recording on

 

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our iPhones, and every time we heard ourselves, we said, I didn't know I

 

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sounded that bad, but we kept going, and so we wound up,

 

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rather than singing an hour or two a week, we sang several hours a week.

 

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Oh wow.

 

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Our voices got better and we're able to take a few risks in doing some more

 

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things. So I've kept that up. So those are my two passions at the moment.

 

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So practise makes perfect.

 

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And the fact is that you have essentially more time on your hands to pursue

 

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those passions and those hobbies.

 

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How about for you, Glen? Was it difficult to find your interests and find what

 

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you really enjoyed doing in the few years that you've been retired?

 

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I was always aware of my interests, and they do centre around music as well,

 

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but not playing or singing, unfortunately.

 

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But I am on the board of directors for a community nonprofit

 

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radio station, which for me is very, very interesting, CIUT 89.5.

 

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It's community funded, it is commercial free, and as a board we're working

 

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really hard to keep it alive and to keep the way it is right now.

 

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And so. That's a passionate thing for me.

 

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I've been a listener for 30 years, but I love music and

 

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love the independence of what that station brings.

 

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And so that's very different than the work that I did before, and it's a

 

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fascinating way to kind of round out part of my brain that maybe I wasn't

 

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tapping into as much before.

 

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That's really, really neat.

 

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And Michelle, why is it important for retirees to

 

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find their purpose really in that specific

 

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chapter in their life?

 

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Well, it's also, I think you wanna be intentional every phase

 

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of life. But there's a little bit less structure around

 

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the retirement phase and it's a bit more open.

 

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Just reflecting on both of Peter and Glen's responses,

 

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these were things that you were interested in in your working years and have

 

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just taken a bigger role in your retirement years.

 

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Whereas if you think about, well, if you, live

 

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to work, well, then your transition into retirement is going to be pretty hard,

 

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whereas you work to live, and then that life in

 

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retirement takes on more space.

 

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It's an easier transition.

 

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I do hear that concern from people who are considering retirement, where they

 

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haven't had the time, or so they say, to figure out what it is that they really

 

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like that can help round out activities when they do retire.

 

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But I think they just need to look around and really absorb what that is.

 

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And I would say, when you think about finances, fidelity, we're mutual funds,

 

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what have you, finances will help in retirement,

 

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but it's the purpose that's going to fuel your retirement.

 

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And with that purpose comes the third pillar about redefining what

 

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thriving means in retirement.

 

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Like you were saying, Michelle, earlier, you know, work to live or

 

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live to work.

 

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So Peter, the one paper you wrote about the seven peaks to

 

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your retirement path, there was one point you made in there about being the

 

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CEO of your retirement life.

 

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I love that concept.

 

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Yeah, exactly. What do you mean by that?

 

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Can you expand on?

 

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This is really important because for most people, retirement

 

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is the first time in their lives when they can be the CEO.

 

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They're in charge of their lives.

 

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You're a kid, you're parents, you're maybe married with children,

 

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you've got a job, all those things. Other people are telling you what you need

 

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to do. You get to retirement, there's still gonna be some things that you have

 

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to do, but you're now in the position to actually make the decisions.

 

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The difficulty is that you've said a gazillion times, I wish I

 

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could do this. I wish i could do that.

 

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When it comes to the point where you can actually do it sometimes there's some

 

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hesitation because you're not used to making those decisions but recognise

 

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that you are now the CEO make those decisions and look you may make

 

14:59.732 --> 15:03.736

some bad ones you can change it you can change what you're doing but what

 

15:03.736 --> 15:07.806

is important is recognise that you are the CEO you are that you're running

 

15:07.806 --> 15:12.778

your organisation and make the decisions and and you'll thrive

 

15:12.778 --> 15:17.549

Do you feel like there was a lot of pressure when you first retired to

 

15:17.549 --> 15:21.520

fill your time and fill that space and you just, you know, you need

 

15:21.520 --> 15:24.857

to be busy? How did you feel when you, about that part?

 

15:24.857 --> 15:28.794

Your emails almost go to zero, and your text and

 

15:28.794 --> 15:33.232

your Teams and everything else, and Zoom becomes infrequent.

 

15:33.232 --> 15:36.402

And so I think that there are people, and I think you mentioned it earlier,

 

15:36.402 --> 15:38.771

about people that are defined by what they do.

 

15:38.771 --> 15:40.706

And they say, I've got this void.

 

15:40.706 --> 15:43.142

It's like a black hole now, what do I do?

 

15:43.142 --> 15:46.045

I was talking to a friend of mine last week who's retiring at the end of this

 

15:46.045 --> 15:49.882

year, and he's already figuring out how he's gonna categorise the thousand LPs

 

15:49.882 --> 15:53.786

that he has. Well, there's people that are just saying, you know what, I want

 

15:53.786 --> 15:57.756

to reduce all that other stuff and add in other things that

 

15:57.756 --> 16:00.526

are of more interest to me or that are more fulfilling.

 

16:00.526 --> 16:03.329

And so there is a big change though. And I think that there probably are

 

16:03.329 --> 16:06.532

people, especially, you have to think of the seasons too.

 

16:06.532 --> 16:09.268

In Canada, winter can be kind of dark and dreary.

 

16:09.268 --> 16:12.805

And I feel if people are retiring in the winter, which is very typical, it can

 

16:12.805 --> 16:15.908

be a kind of a dull time.

 

16:15.908 --> 16:19.578

And so it is important. Or go on a trip and do something.

 

16:19.578 --> 16:23.682

I think that's an idea is have something planned for when you retire to

 

16:23.682 --> 16:27.987

start to wean away. But you know, it's not unlike college or university.

 

16:27.987 --> 16:31.857

You're getting into the cycle of exams and everything else and coming out of

 

16:31.857 --> 16:34.693

that. I remember that took me a few years to kind of get away from worrying

 

16:34.693 --> 16:37.730

about April and December from an exam standpoint.

 

16:37.730 --> 16:41.000

And so definitely a change though, big change.

 

16:41.000 --> 16:45.104

Okay, the fourth and fifth pillars of thriving in retirement go hand

 

16:45.104 --> 16:49.375

in hand. So this is all about smarter retirement income planning

 

16:49.375 --> 16:52.811

and knowing where you wanna settle and how you wanna to settle.

 

16:52.811 --> 16:57.282

I mean, this is a huge part of retirement

 

16:57.282 --> 17:01.286

planning, knowing where your finances are gonna be,

 

17:01.286 --> 17:04.256

knowing where it's gonna come from. Michelle, you're an expert in this.

 

17:04.256 --> 17:09.028

You've seen it grow over the last 20 years in our retirement survey.

 

17:09.028 --> 17:13.032

What are your suggestions to Canadians on how to better prepare for

 

17:13.032 --> 17:14.833

retirement financially and emotionally?

 

17:14.833 --> 17:19.038

Right, and I think especially in the accumulation years, you're focused

 

17:19.038 --> 17:23.242

on saving that nest egg, whatever your target number might

 

17:23.242 --> 17:27.579

be. And our research shows that those who have a retirement

 

17:27.579 --> 17:31.717

plan, a written financial plan, don't

 

17:31.717 --> 17:36.388

feel, well they feel better financially, but also emotionally,

 

17:36.388 --> 17:41.126

socially, physically, which are four pillars of overall well-being

 

17:41.126 --> 17:44.963

that comes from having that written financial plans.

 

17:44.963 --> 17:49.334

So the importance of having a plan, writing pen to paper,

 

17:49.334 --> 17:53.272

and also thinking about the vision, what is it going to look like?

 

17:53.272 --> 17:57.643

It might change, it will ebb and flow, but all these pieces come

 

17:57.643 --> 18:01.513

together to really having the retirement, being intentional having the

 

18:01.513 --> 18:02.781

retirement that you're looking for.

 

18:02.781 --> 18:06.819

So how much do you actually need to have saved up for retirement?

 

18:06.819 --> 18:09.388

We've done the retirement survey now for 20 plus years.

 

18:09.388 --> 18:12.491

How has it changed over the years and how much should Canadians have?

 

18:12.491 --> 18:15.994

I get that question asked all the time.

 

18:15.994 --> 18:20.299

The research shows about 20 years ago, adjusted for inflation, people said

 

18:20.299 --> 18:22.835

about $650,000.

 

18:22.835 --> 18:27.439

Today it's just over a million dollars, but I

 

18:27.439 --> 18:32.778

want to roll that back because people are going to hear a number and say, whoa.

 

18:32.778 --> 18:36.548

It really depends on what are you going to do in retirement.

 

18:36.548 --> 18:38.550

What does that look like? What does it look like.

 

18:38.550 --> 18:42.688

And so it's sitting down with a financial advisor, can

 

18:42.688 --> 18:46.892

really be helpful and instrumental to helping someone create their

 

18:46.892 --> 18:50.529

plan. And there's definitely not a one size fits all.

 

18:50.529 --> 18:54.867

Peter, being an expert in this field, too, and now living in retirement,

 

18:54.867 --> 18:59.938

how have you adjusted to retirement life in terms of finances,

 

18:59.938 --> 19:03.075

financial planning, viewing your finances in retirement?

 

19:03.075 --> 19:05.344

How has that changed for you over the years?

 

19:05.344 --> 19:09.314

Well, I was fortunate that my saving for retirement went

 

19:09.314 --> 19:13.452

very well. And the great thing about that is that

 

19:13.452 --> 19:18.190

in retirement, the last thing you want to worry about is money.

 

19:18.190 --> 19:21.493

And something that bothered me when I was with Fidelity is that I was

 

19:21.493 --> 19:25.764

occasionally hearing advice out there in public discussion,

 

19:25.764 --> 19:28.133

saying, well, you know, you don't really have to save as much as you think

 

19:28.133 --> 19:31.003

because your expenses will go down. Sure, some will.

 

19:31.003 --> 19:33.071

But you'll still have expenses.

 

19:33.071 --> 19:35.207

The furnace will break when it's minus 25.

 

19:35.207 --> 19:38.677

That's happened to us. And you gotta be able to say, yes, I can replace that

 

19:38.677 --> 19:42.781

furnace and there's gonna be no disruption to anything else.

 

19:42.781 --> 19:45.217

So you've gotta be prepared for that.

 

19:45.217 --> 19:49.321

And I used to get, frankly, really mad when I'd hear so-called experts

 

19:49.321 --> 19:52.925

say, well, you know, people don't spend everything they've saved.

 

19:52.925 --> 19:56.895

Okay, is it better to have some leftover and not worry about it?

 

19:56.895 --> 19:58.764

You can let your kids have it.

 

19:58.764 --> 20:00.866

You can donate it to a charity.

 

20:00.866 --> 20:04.970

So you you you don't want to under save you don't want to

 

20:04.970 --> 20:08.340

live a terrible life while you're saving either I mean balance is important,

 

20:08.340 --> 20:12.511

but you've got to be prepared for things for expenses that you didn't

 

20:12.511 --> 20:14.079

think you might have

 

20:14.079 --> 20:14.980

to grandchildren.

 

20:14.980 --> 20:17.449

Well, yes, the grandchildren, yes.

 

20:17.449 --> 20:20.252

Because grandparents have a universal right to spoil their grandchildren, and

 

20:20.252 --> 20:22.154

their parents can't do nothing about it.

 

20:22.154 --> 20:24.456

But it is something to think about.

 

20:24.456 --> 20:27.826

Are you still supporting your children in retirement life?

 

20:27.826 --> 20:31.697

Are you now going to support in other ways with grandchildren?

 

20:31.697 --> 20:34.166

Where are you going to settle? Where are going to move?

 

20:34.166 --> 20:38.036

All these types of questions are important to ask yourself.

 

20:38.036 --> 20:40.472

Pre-retired life and retirement, am I?

 

20:40.472 --> 20:44.710

Does that sound about right? Creating that vision of what that looks like.

 

20:44.710 --> 20:47.713

One of our surveys, we asked, well, what do you want to do in retirement?

 

20:47.713 --> 20:51.883

Number one answer, consistently, 20 years now, I want to travel in

 

20:51.883 --> 20:56.755

retirement. But travel can mean so many different things to so many people.

 

20:56.755 --> 21:01.393

So you could have a more economical, let's take a road trip across Canada,

 

21:01.393 --> 21:04.997

or we could do multiple luxury cruises.

 

21:04.997 --> 21:07.699

So there's costs that are associated with that.

 

21:07.699 --> 21:11.670

So thinking about that vision, what does that look like

 

21:11.670 --> 21:15.874

and then adding some financial numbers to that?

 

21:15.874 --> 21:19.978

And obviously revisiting with your financial

 

21:19.978 --> 21:24.416

advisor, your financial plan, with every chapter, new

 

21:24.416 --> 21:28.920

or old in your life, really, really important to have that conversation with

 

21:28.920 --> 21:31.223

your advisor and with your loved ones.

 

21:31.223 --> 21:35.227

Yeah, and a lesson I learned back in the late 90s, as you'll recall,

 

21:35.227 --> 21:38.563

when the technology boom was happening, and I was a wholesaler at Fidelity out

 

21:38.563 --> 21:40.599

on the road talking to advisors.

 

21:40.599 --> 21:44.403

When the technology market corrected, for lack of a better word, there were a

 

21:44.403 --> 21:48.373

lot of investors who were completely focused

 

21:48.373 --> 21:52.411

on technology. And as a young person, I saw what that means to someone

 

21:52.411 --> 21:56.415

who's retired, and they've seen their nest egg dwindle to almost zero in many

 

21:56.415 --> 22:00.652

cases. And so. Keeping diverse, talking to your financial advisor,

 

22:00.652 --> 22:04.589

absolutely having that plan. I do liken it to someone who

 

22:04.589 --> 22:08.894

buys a first house and just has enough to buy that house.

 

22:08.894 --> 22:12.397

But as you said, Peter, then the furnace goes, the roof blows off, the basement

 

22:12.397 --> 22:15.300

floods. That sounds horrible, but that happens.

 

22:15.300 --> 22:18.904

And then they realise, I've got to have all this extra finance now in order to

 

22:18.904 --> 22:21.406

handle that. And I see that with retirement.

 

22:21.406 --> 22:24.943

Most people say, I'm retiring and I'm going to travel every month, I am going

 

22:24.943 --> 22:28.113

to be somewhere. The Canadian dollar doesn't get you very far if you are

 

22:28.113 --> 22:31.583

leaving our borders. And it's wonderful to get out and experience things, but

 

22:31.583 --> 22:33.719

it is at an expense.

 

22:33.719 --> 22:36.321

And it comes with budgeting and planning.

 

22:36.321 --> 22:40.325

But you also, sorry to cut you off, but you also should hold

 

22:40.325 --> 22:44.096

back from that and say, well, I'll save a little longer or we'll see what

 

22:44.096 --> 22:48.066

happens with the market. It is important to be having fun while you're able, as

 

22:48.066 --> 22:50.168

you talked about earlier, Michelle.

 

22:50.168 --> 22:53.405

It's about facing the realities, it sounds like, of retirement in life.

 

22:53.405 --> 22:57.242

It may not always be, I'm gonna head straight to the beach and everything's

 

22:57.242 --> 22:59.811

gonna be fine and dandy.

 

22:59.811 --> 23:02.013

It may not be the reality for everyone. Well, it's interesting, because the

 

23:02.013 --> 23:06.218

research shows that people want to travel in retirement,

 

23:06.218 --> 23:09.621

but neither of the gentlemen have spoken about travel extensively.

 

23:09.621 --> 23:12.124

Well, we don't want to brag about that. I'm sure there's a piece of it.

 

23:12.124 --> 23:14.559

That was just, yeah.

 

23:14.559 --> 23:18.730

But the focus comes from volunteer work, being part

 

23:18.730 --> 23:21.166

of various organisations.

 

23:21.166 --> 23:25.203

Travel is wonderful, and it's great to be able to do that, and we've been

 

23:25.203 --> 23:27.105

doing that quite frequently.

 

23:27.105 --> 23:27.973

And you don't.

 

23:27.973 --> 23:30.809

Have to necessarily be really exotic about it.

 

23:30.809 --> 23:35.013

We used to do car trips to various parts of the United States.

 

23:35.013 --> 23:39.084

We kind of stopped that in recent years, but we've spent a couple of summers

 

23:39.084 --> 23:41.486

or parts of summers in Prince Edward Island.

 

23:41.486 --> 23:45.090

Fabulous place to go and if I'd gone to the West Coast I would probably be

 

23:45.090 --> 23:46.658

having exactly the same reaction.

 

23:46.658 --> 23:47.559

Mm-hmm.

 

23:47.559 --> 23:49.127

Lots of places to go in Canada.

 

23:49.127 --> 23:49.895

Absolutely. But it isn't.

 

23:49.895 --> 23:52.564

It's important to know that the bills don't stop.

 

23:52.564 --> 23:54.433

CRA still comes knocking.

 

23:54.466 --> 23:56.802

Nobody says, oh, you're retired, you got a free pass.

 

23:56.802 --> 24:00.839

And so I think viewers need to understand that, is that there is the

 

24:00.839 --> 24:03.141

constant flow of need for money.

 

24:03.141 --> 24:04.709

And so you have to be prepared.

 

24:04.709 --> 24:09.114

Definitely a reality to a financial reality at that in

 

24:09.114 --> 24:13.118

one respect, but also what I'm hearing is that you do have a lot of flexibility

 

24:13.118 --> 24:17.689

to really pursue your passions and your hobbies and it just

 

24:17.689 --> 24:22.227

with proper planning could be a really fulfilling

 

24:22.227 --> 24:24.663

part of your life.

 

24:24.663 --> 24:28.633

Now as we just wrap up the show to all of you, just a last message

 

24:28.633 --> 24:32.571

on to Canadians on how you can really thrive in retirement.

 

24:32.571 --> 24:34.172

Peter, what would you say?

 

24:34.172 --> 24:36.341

Use it or lose it.

 

24:36.341 --> 24:38.844

Exercise your mind, exercise your body.

 

24:38.844 --> 24:42.981

Now, it doesn't matter how good you are or what you do, but if you

 

24:42.981 --> 24:46.985

do those two things, you will get much more enjoyment out of

 

24:46.985 --> 24:50.922

everything else. And if you happen to run into a medical issue, you're likely

 

24:50.922 --> 24:53.024

gonna recover faster.

 

24:53.024 --> 24:55.060

So, if there was one piece of advice, it's...

 

24:55.060 --> 24:56.828

Lose it or lose it.

 

24:56.828 --> 24:57.662

Glen, what would you say?

 

24:57.662 --> 25:01.666

Well, I think it's about having a plan, thinking about when you'd like this

 

25:01.666 --> 25:05.303

to begin, thinking about interests that you have that you can grow, thinking

 

25:05.303 --> 25:09.474

about a hobby maybe that you want to pick up or a song that you'd like to sing,

 

25:09.474 --> 25:12.711

and really a plan for having some fun as well.

 

25:12.711 --> 25:14.613

I just think that's so important.

 

25:14.613 --> 25:18.316

And Michelle, for those who are approaching retirement, what would you suggest

 

25:18.316 --> 25:20.252

to them? Be intentional.

 

25:20.252 --> 25:24.289

Create that vision, think about what you want to do, how you're going to

 

25:24.289 --> 25:28.693

go about doing it, create a plan to fulfil that

 

25:28.693 --> 25:30.128

intention.

 

25:30.128 --> 25:34.366

Michele, Glen, Peter, thank you so much for sitting with me today, for being

 

25:34.366 --> 25:37.536

here and sharing your insights. It was really a wonderful conversation and I'm

 

25:37.536 --> 25:39.871

so glad to see all of you here today.

 

25:39.871 --> 25:41.873

Thank you. Thanks, Emily. Thanks.

 

25:41.873 --> 25:45.810

For this video and more investor content, check out Fidelity Canada on our

 

25:45.810 --> 25:49.481

YouTube channel. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time on the Upside

 

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Plus.

 

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26:39.798 --> 26:43.101

The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the participants

 

26:43.101 --> 26:47.439

and do not necessarily reflect those of Fidelity Investments Canada ULC or

 

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its affiliates. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should

 

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sponsorship of any entity or security cited.

 

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Read a fund's prospectus before investing.

 

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Their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

 

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Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time.

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