'My advice to people heading into retirement is to stay connected to the world,' says Bill Ross of Toronto.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
In Tales from the Golden Age, retirees talk about their spending, savings and whether life after work is what they expected. For more articles in this series, click here.
Bill Ross, 83, Toronto
I reluctantly retired in 2016 after a long career in information technology (IT). For the last 20 years of my career, I 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. I was 75 years old and had been working in IT since 1965, so I’d had a pretty good 50-plus year run in a field often considered a younger person’s domain.
I had no preconceived notions about what retirement would be like because I had never really thought about it. I never imagined life without some type of work. 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, my wife, who founded and ran a charitable organization and worked from home, told me it was time to get out of the house more and find a job. I 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. The people I worked with were lovely and I enjoyed helping the customers. Then, Lowe’s Canada was bought by a New York private equity firm and our store was one of those it decided to close in January, 2024.
Then, not long after my last day of work, I had a mild stroke, so I was in the hospital for a few weeks. I’ve mostly recovered, so I’m thinking about trying to get a job at Canadian Tire or a similar type of store if anyone’s interested.
I’ve also been volunteering in retirement. I started in 2017 as a member of the patient advisory council at the medical clinic where our family doctor is located. In 2018, I was invited to volunteer on the Michael Garron Hospital patient experience panel. This led to my volunteering on the East Toronto Health Partners Digital Steering Committee in 2019, helping guide the building of the health care network in East Toronto.
Until it was ended by COVID-19, I had enjoyed a 20-year stretch playing beer-league lacrosse once a week, but I’ve maintained my 14-year, twice-a-week involvement in karate and carried on my long-standing weekly attendance at a meditation group.
The rising cost of living is a concern in retirement. Our RRSPs are in GICs, so we don’t pay close attention to the market, but we certainly worry about inflation.
The current international political climate is also a cause for some concern given its possible impacts on the Canadian 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, although it was never a lot anyway. We have an adult son living at home, allowing us to stay in our house as he covers many of the home-related expenses. He will inherit the house eventually.
My advice to people heading into retirement is to stay connected to the world. If you keep your eyes and ears open, you’ll find interesting things to do. I urge anyone to keep working as long as possible if they enjoy it, and if they don’t, consider volunteer work; many places could use their energy and experience. Getting out and connecting with people is important.
As told to Brenda Bouw
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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.