{"id":601613,"date":"2023-12-18T21:04:13","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T18:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/im-80-years-old-and-i-dont-know-when-ill-retire\/"},"modified":"2023-12-18T21:04:13","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T18:04:13","slug":"im-80-years-old-and-i-dont-know-when-ill-retire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/im-80-years-old-and-i-dont-know-when-ill-retire\/","title":{"rendered":"#I\u2019m 80 years old and I don\u2019t know when I\u2019ll retire"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\u201cI find it app<\/a>alling that people who contributed to Canadian society for decades are working when they\u2019d rather not\u00a0because a government pension can\u2019t support them\u2014if they have one at all\u201d\n<\/div>\n
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(Photograph by Riley Smith)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019m 80 now, but I\u2019ve been working pretty steadily since the 1950s. As a teenager, I was employed as a production assistant at CHML, a radio station in my hometown of Hamilton, then at Robinson\u2019s, a local department store. In my twenties, I was hired as a fill-in youth director at the Hamilton YMCA, and I ended up staying with the national organization for 28 years\u2014despite the fact that I wasn\u2019t accumulating a pension. Eventually, I moved to Halifax to become the Y\u2019s Atlantic area coordinator. In 1991, in my late 40s, I left the Y to become CEO of the Lung Association of Nova Scotia, where I stayed for 15 years. <\/span>When I retired in 2006, at the age of 63, I expected that my days of full-time work were over, and that I\u2019d spend the rest of my days with my wife, Esther, enjoying our hobbies, like leading a recreational walking group around Halifax.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0The Big Idea: Help seniors age at home<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In the lead-up to retirement, I calculated that I had enough savings and personal investments to fund the basics, like electricity and phone bills and food, as well as gifts for family and friends. Esther and I had already paid off the mortgage on our three-bedroom townhouse, and our two daughters had long since moved out and established their own careers. Without a pension, I figured I\u2019d always have to take on odd jobs to afford any extras, like travel<\/a>ling and university money for my grandkids, who were toddlers at the time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But in the last few years, the soaring costs of groceries, gas and other travel have prevented me and so many of my contemporaries\u2014who have already been in the workforce for five or six decades\u2014from living the lifestyles we want unless we take on full-time work. So, 17 years and multiple failed attempts at full retirement later, I\u2019m now the chief education and advocacy officer at the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, or CARP, an organization that pushes for better health care, housing and financial security for elderly Canadians. I work between 50 and 60 hours a week, including monthly work trips to Toronto. I\u2019m still healthy enough to put in long hours, and I have no plans to retire anytime soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

I founded CARP\u2019s Nova Scotia chapter in 2003, when I was just a volunteer. Back then, two of the biggest issues facing seniors were rampant online scams and frauds, targeted emails that asked vulnerable elderly people for money for made-up charities. Recently, however, the main concerns that retired people have raised with us are financial in nature. I\u2019ve spoken with many seniors who are afraid of running out of money: their pensions have stagnated as inflation has increased, and basics like rent and food are eating into their savings. Many octogenarian members\u2014healthy ones, without medical costs\u2014worry that our government\u2019s pension plans and fiscal policies for elderly people do not account for the increasingly long average lifespan of Canadians, <\/span>which has increased by almost 10 years since 1975<\/span>. This summer, CARP surveyed more than 3,000 of our members, and we found that 41 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 65 and 75 were still working part-time,<\/span> at least<\/span><\/i>. Half of those respondents said they were very worried about outliving their savings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the pension front, just 30 per cent of Canadian pensioners have plans that grow in value over time and are adjusted for inflation. The other 70 per cent are on fixed incomes. I know some teachers my age are receiving supposedly \u201cgood\u201d pensions\u2014except for the fact that their payments haven\u2019t increased in 20 years. As a result, many have either returned to the classroom or taken entry-level jobs in hospitality and retail, as bellhops and cashiers. <\/span>I know a clergywoman in her 60s who retired a few years ago because she had cancer and tired easily; now, she works 30 hours or more as a counsellor to make ends meet. Another CARP member, who is in a wheelchair, came out of retirement and took a desk job for the same reason.<\/span><\/p>\n

We can\u2019t completely blame the situation on the cost of living. Many of the federal government\u2019s tax and financial rules for seniors fail to adequately support us. They haven\u2019t changed to meet the current reality of our economy. Canadians are forced to cash in our registered retirement income funds, or RRIFs, at the age of 70, even if we don\u2019t need the money right then. Worse, in 2022, the government increased Canada Pension Plan payments by 10 per cent for people over 75, but not for those aged 65 to 75, as if that demographic doesn\u2019t need the money. That\u2019s poppycock. The 65-to-75-year-olds I know have a laundry list of expenses\u2014their own mortgages, of course, but many of them are now also helping their children buy and pay for their <\/span>own <\/span><\/i>houses. <\/span>
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<\/span>When I raise the issue of seniors struggling financially, I\u2019m often met with a suggestion: <\/span>Why don\u2019t they just sell their houses? <\/span><\/i>There is a misconception that seniors are all just sitting on million-dollar homes while millennials and Gen Zs flounder in a brutal market. Not all seniors own expensive homes. I\u2019ve also spoken to countless realtors who tell me about seniors who <\/span>want <\/span><\/i>to sell but can\u2019t find an apartment or condo in their community that\u2019s available within their price range. Some senior homeowners end up taking out a reverse mortgage, which can quickly liberate significant sums of money. S<\/span>ome seniors end up having to take on extra work regardless.<\/span>
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READ:\u00a0Why preparing emotionally for retirement is just as important as having a financial plan<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As more and more Canadians are forced to work into their later years, the Canadian workforce itself is going to have to evolve. A Harris Poll from 2022 found that 40 per cent of Canadian companies are desperate to fill vacant roles, with some companies settling for employees with little to no experience. Even still, many businesses are reluctant to hire older Canadians, who some employers see as tech-illiterate or hesitant to change. I\u2019ve met many seniors who are desperate for work but unable to land steady gigs because they\u2019re passed over for new graduates. To me, seniors are a boon for business: we typically have lots of experience, require minimal feedback and supervision, and can work during the summers, when younger Canadians with families often take time off.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a post-retirement worker in 2023, I\u2019m no longer an anomaly. I\u2019m so lucky that I enjoy my job, and at this point, my advocacy work gives me enough purpose that I don\u2019t want to retire, even if I could. But I still find it appalling that people who contributed to Canadian society for decades are working when they\u2019d rather not because a government pension can\u2019t support them\u2014if they have one at all. People of my generation weren\u2019t prepared for this reality. Earlier in our lives, full retirement at 65 was the promise. We thought we\u2019d spend the last years of our lives taking up hobbies, volunteering or spending quality time with our grandkids. Being robbed of that dream has been a huge blow for so many.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If I could redo my career, I\u2019d think about saving sooner and make sure I had a trustworthy financial planner who\u2019d help me grow my income from my first paycheque. That\u2019s the advice I give to younger people these days: do everything you can to set yourself up for the later parts of your life. You can\u2019t predict what the future holds. I certainly couldn\u2019t have predicted that I\u2019d still be working as I approach my 81st birthday.<\/span>
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\u2014As told to Alex Cyr<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n