How much do you know about financial independence?

Caution, Bogleheads is very good but US centric. Take with a grain of salt and adapt.

https://www.finiki.org/wiki/Main_Page

Thats the Canadian sister of Bogleheads I don't remember it having spreadsheet templates unless they are buried in the forums

+1 for spreadsheets. I make my own in Google Sheets and tinker with them indefinitely.

2% for inflation and 4% for safe withdrawal rate from investments are realistic numbers if your horizon is long term.

I've found this to be a useful tax calculator for estimating taxes in different scenarios.

You all are Netflix type fiends. I'll just put this here.... https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/06/18/hedge-fund-devils/

Posted by: tungsten

You all are Netflix type fiends. I'll just put this here.... https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/06/18/hedge-fund-devils/

Those guys do the opposite of what we are doing here. We are passive investors putting our own hard-earned money to work, not ruthless speculators risking other people's money in high-stakes gambling schemes.

Sounds like an interesting series though. 7.1 on IMDB, just enough to give it a try.

Posted by: [email protected]

Posted by: tungsten

You all are Netflix type fiends. I'll just put this here.... https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/06/18/hedge-fund-devils/

Those guys do the opposite of what we are doing here. We are passive investors putting our own hard-earned money to work, not ruthless speculators risking other people's money in high-stakes gambling schemes.

Sounds like an interesting series though. 7.1 on IMDB, just enough to give it a try.

Or even worse, criminal enterprises that use insider information to generate exceptionally high returns for their ultra wealthy clients and keep their hands clean.  The very wealthy with billions to invest often make twice the return that even a reasonable wealthy person can make.  In Capitalism in the 21st Century Pikkety compares the returns of university endowments which are listed publicly and range from a few million to multi billions.  The wealthy schools like Harvard with massive endowments make way more as a percentage than the average school like UBC.  I think only a naïve fool would believe that their fund managers are just far more talented and not bribing CEOs for info.

Threads should not be allowed to start with the same six words.

Posted by: SixZeroSixOne

I drop into this thread periodically, get fired up to get my finances in order, start researching which turns into procastination and then I get completely side tracked by more interesting topics.

Anyway, I'm getting seriously bored with work and have started thinking more about how little money I actually need to live and doing gap analysis to figure out how much money I'll have coming in from various sources once I reach certain age points.

I'm currently 57 and I'll qualify for a defined benefit works pension at 60, then CPP at 65 then a state pension from the UK when I'm 67.

I'll also be able to start drawing down from my RRSP.

So, is there any financial planning apps where you can plug-in your numbers and personal circumstances and run some what-if analysis to help for retirement planning?

I've tried this one but it's bit clumsy and you can't really save changes to run different scenarios

https://www.sunlife.ca/en/tools-and-resources/tools-and-calculators/retirement-savings-calculator/

The quick and simple version

Posted by: SixZeroSixOne

So, is there any financial planning apps where you can plug-in your numbers and personal circumstances and run some what-if analysis to help for retirement planning?

I've tried this one but it's bit clumsy and you can't really save changes to run different scenarios (e.g life expectancy!)

Any suggestions for good apps or websites? Would be particularly interested in doing analysis based on various different inflation rates...

To add...assuming there is a shortage between what I need to live on and what my income will be, I'd like to be able to plug in some numbers which tells me how much I still need to be investing in my RRSP over the next few years so that I can draw down more or less at various age points.

Two calculators I like using [note they are based on US historical market data]:

https://cfiresim.com/

https://engaging-data.com/will-money-last-retire-early/

The basic rule a lot of people follow is you need $25 invested for every $1 of spending you need annually. So if your shortfall is $5000/year you would need to save/invest another $125,000 in the RRSP. That's a fairly conservative approach so you could save less with the hope/expectation that market returns will increase your principal faster than you are withdrawing.

If you are up for posting a detailed case study the folks over at the MMM forums are good at providing suggestions to help you meet your goals. You can also just read other people's case studies and get some ideas.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/case-studies/

The links in the very first post (Canadian Couch Potato, Mr. Money Moustache) are still good starting points but if anyone who is already on board has developed an interest in investing and finds themselves tempted to overthink the whole thing, I find that watching one or two youtube videos by Ben Felix always works great to stay on course. He is very rational and usually makes very good evidence-based arguments.

https://www.youtube.com/c/BenFelixCSI

2022 TFSA limit stays at $6000.  

Did you max it out this year?   Still some time left to do so.

Posted by: heckler

2022 TFSA limit stays at $6000.  

Did you max it out this year?   Still some time left to do so.

And invest it! Don't waste your contribution room in a savings account. TFSA is the best place to let investments grow and compound tax-free long-term.

My first year in Canada I was earning 1.X% interest in my TFSA, stupidly I thought the "SA" in TFSA meant it had to be a savings account 🙄

Even a conservative 60% stocks / 40% bonds Canadian Couch Potato portfolio would have had a 15% return that year. In my second year I moved everything over to an investment account and went with 90/10 CCP.

Posted by: heckler

2022 TFSA limit stays at $6000.  

Did you max it out this year?   Still some time left to do so.

I maxed it out the first trading day of the year. ;-)

Posted by: Vikb

I maxed it out the first trading day of the year. ;-)

which is why I looked up next years limit.  :)

Posted by: heckler

which is why I looked up next years limit.  :)

Nice. I'll sit down and do my year end numbers closer to NYE and then get a plan going for 2022. Including maxing out the TFSA.