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Charting Retirement first appeared in the Personal Finance section of the Globe and Mail on Oct. 25, 2022. To celebrate what would have been the publication of my 100th chart, the editors graciously offered me the chance to exhibit some of my favourite and more popular charts.
Narrowing it down to four wasn’t easy. I opted for the ones that struck a chord with readers, perhaps because they touched on some perennial themes – that we tend to live longer than we think, that it’s usually better to start CPP/QPP pensions later than earlier, the pitfalls we encounter as we draw down our savings in retirement, and finally, that our retirement income target may not be as high as we have been led to believe.
Thank you to my Globe and Mail readers for their continuing indulgence. I hope we can keep on doing this for many years to come.
Spending breakdown
Spendable income as a percentage of gross pay in working years
100%
Retirement
saving
90
Work-
related
80
Child-
raising
70
60
Mortgage
50
Income
tax
40
Spendable
income
30
20
10
0
33
35
37
39
41
43
45
47
49
51
53
55
57
59
61
Age of older spouse
the globe and mail, Source: the rule of 30,
frederick vettese
Spending breakdown
Spendable income as a percentage of gross pay in working years
100%
Retirement
saving
90
Work-
related
80
Child-
raising
70
60
Mortgage
50
Income
tax
40
Spendable
income
30
20
10
0
33
35
37
39
41
43
45
47
49
51
53
55
57
59
61
Age of older spouse
the globe and mail, Source: the rule of 30,
frederick vettese
Spending breakdown
Spendable income as a percentage of gross pay in working years
100%
Retirement saving
90
Work-related
80
Child-raising
70
60
Mortgage
50
Income tax
40
Spendable income
30
20
10
0
33
35
37
39
41
43
45
47
49
51
53
55
57
59
61
Age of older spouse
the globe and mail, Source: the rule of 30, frederick vettese
Why women (probably) shouldn’t take CPP early
Number of women out of 1,000 who end up being better off taking
CPP early by age
Winners
(by starting CPP early)
Losers
60
40
20
65
70
75
80
85
90
95
100
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, source: AUTHOR’S CALCULATIONS USING CPM-2014
MORTALITY WITH IMPROVEMENTS TO 2023
Why women (probably) shouldn’t take CPP early
Number of women out of 1,000 who end up being better off taking
CPP early by age
Winners
(by starting CPP early)
Losers
60
40
20
65
70
75
80
85
90
95
100
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, source: AUTHOR’S CALCULATIONS USING CPM-2014
MORTALITY WITH IMPROVEMENTS TO 2023
Why women (probably) shouldn’t take CPP early
Number of women out of 1,000 who end up being better off taking CPP early by age
Winners (by starting CPP early)
Losers
60
40
20
65
70
75
80
85
90
95
100
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, source: AUTHOR’S CALCULATIONS USING CPM-2014
MORTALITY WITH IMPROVEMENTS TO 2023
Frederick Vettese is former chief actuary of Morneau Shepell and author of the PERC retirement calculator (perc-pro.ca)
