Bill Ross at his home in Toronto’s east-end on April 3, 2025. April 3, 2025. (Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail)Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
“I reluctantly retired in 2016 after a long career in information technology (IT),” says Bill Ross, 83, in the latest Tales From the Golden Age article. For the past 20 years of his career, he adds, he was an independent contractor, managing IT projects for various organizations, mostly big banks and other financial institutions.
“When my last contract finished, nothing else came along,” Ross says. He was in his 70s and had been working in IT since 1965, so he admits to a pretty good 50-plus year run in a field often considered a younger person’s domain.
He never imagined life without some type of work, he adds. “For the first two years of retirement, I hung around the house, enjoying the break from work while occasionally responding to IT contract postings.”
At one point, Ross’s wife, who founded and ran a charitable organization and worked from home, told him it was time to get out of the house more and find a job. He found a part-time job as a sales associate at the local Lowe’s home improvement store. “I spent six years there and loved it.” Then, Lowe’s Canada was bought by a New York private equity firm and his store was one of those it decided to close in January, 2024.
Not long after his last day of work, Ross had a mild stroke, so was in the hospital for a few weeks, he says. He’s mostly recovered, so he’s thinking about trying to get another part-time job.
Ross has also been volunteering. He started in 2017 as a member of the patient advisory council at the medical clinic where his family doctor is located. In 2018, he was invited to volunteer at Michael Garron Hospital. This led to his volunteering on the East Toronto Health Partners Digital Steering Committee.
Until COVID-19 ended it, Ross had enjoyed a 20-year stretch playing beer-league lacrosse once a week, but he maintains his 14-year, twice-a-week involvement in karate and carried on his long-standing weekly attendance at a meditation group.
The rising cost of living is a concern, he says, as is the current international political climate given its possible effects on the economy. “Our mortgage is paid off, we’re careful with our money, and no longer spend as much on travel and entertainment as we once did.” They have an adult son living at home, allowing them to stay in their house as he covers many of the home-related expenses.
Ross’s advice to people heading into retirement is to stay connected to the world. Getting out and connecting with people is important.
Read the full article here.
Are you a Canadian retiree interested in discussing what life is like now that you’ve stopped working? The Globe is looking for people to participate in its Tales from the Golden Age feature, which examines the personal and financial realities of retirement. If you’re interested in being interviewed for this feature and agree to use your full name and have a photo taken, please e-mail us at: goldenageglobe@gmail.com. Please include a few details about how you saved and invested for retirement and what your life is like now. For more articles in this series, click here.
Meg has managed her money well on less than $50K a year. How can she make the most of her retirement funds?
Meg, 66, is retired with no debt and a net worth of about $735,000, most of which is tied up in her Vancouver-area condo.
She had been collecting long-term disability benefits, which ended when she turned 65.
Her income consists of Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security and two small pensions from previous employers. Altogether they add up to $35,000 a year. “I have taken an economical approach all my life and have never lived above my means,” Meg writes in an e-mail. Despite her modest income, she has travelled extensively and hopes to continue to do so.
Her main question is how to access the $85,000 she has in a locked-in retirement account (LIRA) with the fewest tax implications.
“Can I withdraw the LIRA funds completely?” Meg asks. “What would the penalty be? Am I eligible for financial hardship?” (If a person can be deemed to be under financial hardship, it may be possible to access locked-in funds early.)
Meg’s lifestyle expenses come to about $32,400 a year. She recently applied for the disability tax credit and received $16,700 for overpayment of taxes, which she tucked away in her tax-free savings accounts (TFSA).
“What is best for me?” Meg asks.
For this Financial Facelift, Steve Bridge, an advice-only financial planner at Money Coaches Canada in Vancouver, looks at Meg’s situation.
Want a free financial facelift? E-mail finfacelift@gmail.com. Some details may be changed to protect the privacy of the persons profiled.
Party platforms: Compare pledges on major issues from Trump to housing
A voter guide to where the Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and Bloc Québécois stand with less than a week until Canada’s election on April 2
On April 28, Canadians will decide which party forms government in an election that has been focused on which leader can steer the country through a trade war with the United States.
Here is what you need to know about each party’s platform and where they stand on the issues that affect Canadians the most.
In case you missed it
Why multiple pension plans can mean multiple tax challenges
This article is part of a new Globe Advisor series, Pensions Unpacked, exploring how workplace pensions fit into retirement strategies, and the technical details and decisions that come with the plans.
Canadians with multiple workplace pensions may face myriad tax challenges if they don’t plan their withdrawal strategies ahead of time, writes Globe Advisor reporter Deanne Gage.
They may end up with multiple pensions after switching jobs if the first pension doesn’t transfer over easily to the next one. Others may have worked in a different country for a period of time.
One challenge for advisers when calculating clients’ monthly spending needs is how pensions pay out, says Cody Weber, owner and certified financial planner (CFP) at Basic Financial Services Inc. in St. Catharines, Ont. For example, one pension may pay out every month, while another may have a more hybrid approach, paying out less consistently.
“It’s hard to know how much is coming in every month, so clients struggle with structure,” Mr. Weber says. He helps clients put that structure in place for what he calls “their retirement paycheque.”
Gross versus net income is another consideration with pensions, as some workplace pensions don’t deduct taxes, he says. In client meetings, he gets out his white board, writes down all the sources of income, the amounts for each and the ensuing tax implications.
Multiple workplace pensions also need to be co-ordinated with Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS) benefits as well as with the withdrawal of investments from registered and non-registered accounts, Mr. Weber says.
Read the full article here.
Snowbirds, don’t run afoul of 2025 tax rules
With all the chatter about U.S. registration rules for Canadian visitors, tariffs, “artificially drawn” borders and vanishing Kentucky bourbon from liquor store shelves, it’s easy to forget tax-filing season is in full swing, writes Kira Vermond.
And for snowbirds (Canadians 55 years of age and older who spend at least 31 days a year down south), it’s still crucial to file taxes on time – and correctly – in both Canada and the U.S.
Those cross-border filings can be wickedly complex. Gerry Scott, a certified financial planner in Vancouver, has tried to make things easier for snowbirds with his Snowbirds U.S. Day Tracker app and a podcast for expat Canadians, but confusion persists.
“We don’t know how many mistakes Canadian snowbirds make when travelling back and forth between countries. We only find out afterward,” he says.
Want to stay off the radar of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS)? Avoid these five common tax blunders in 2025.
Retirement Q & A
This week, we turn to our Globe reporters to respond to your biggest questions – this one regarding capital gains – just ahead of the tax deadline.
Q: When will the CRA begin processing tax returns that report capital gains? And, since the capital gains changes have been dropped, do I still need to break down my capital gains into the two periods (Jan 1. to June 24 and June 25 to Dec. 31)?
Globe Advisor reporter Rudy Mezzetta answers this reader’s question about reporting capital gains for the 2024 tax season.
A: The CRA issued guidance on March 11 suggesting that Canadians who are reporting capital gains in 2024 wait to file their returns while the CRA updates its systems and finishes the process of certifying tax prep software platforms. The CRA has indicated that it expected to have most software platforms certified by the end of March.
However, the CRA has yet to issue new guidance regarding whether it has finished updating its systems. Speak with your tax adviser regarding whether you can go ahead and file for 2024 or whether it would be prudent to wait. As you may be aware, the CRA has given taxpayers reporting 2024 capital gains until June 2 to file a T1 without interest or late-filing penalty.
The 2024 Schedule 3 (for the reporting of capital gains and losses) breaks down capital gains into two periods corresponding to the dates in question. The CRA has left the form this way, despite that the proposed capital gains changes are not going forward, to align the Schedule 3 with tax slips that had already been prepared under the proposed rules, among other reasons.
Your 2024 T-slips will include instructions on where to input reported capital gains on the Schedule 3. Tax software should input those figures automatically into the correct sections on the schedule. Now that the government has said it will not proceed with the proposed hike in the capital gains inclusion rate, all 2024 gains will be subject to a 50-per-cent inclusion rate even if they’re broken out into two periods.
Here are more highlights from the Q&A. Globe reporters answered queries about the changing capital gains tax, medical expenses and pension splitting. Questions and responses have been edited for length and clarity.
The Globe and Mail