The majority of retirees want to remain in their homes and age in place as long as possible. Indeed, most of the financial plans for my retired clients project them to stay in their home, or a home of equivalent value, for their entire lives. That makes perfect sense if you plan on leaving your paid-off home to your beneficiaries upon your death. But, for many retirees, a fully paid-off home represents untapped equity that will lead to underspending throughout retirement, or at least a seriou...| Boomer & Echo
CIBC's Deputy Chief Economist Benjamin Tal raised eyebrows this week when he said that one in five first-time home buyers is getting help from their parents with a gift, on average, of $150,000. Not only are more first-time buyers getting financial aid from the bank of mom and dad (up from 15.5% in 2015) but the dollar amount has more than doubled (up from $71,000 in 2015). While the main story here is about rising home prices and growing inequality, I wanted to address the topic of generatio...| Boomer & Echo
I often recommend deferring CPP until age 70 to secure more lifetime income in retirement. It's also possible to defer OAS to age 70 for a smaller, but still meaningful, increase in guaranteed income. While the goal is to design a more secure retirement, there can be a psychological hurdle for retirees to overcome. That hurdle has to do with withdrawing (often significant) dollars from existing savings to fill the income gap while you wait for your government benefits to kick-in. Indeed, the ...| Boomer & Echo