Good morning. Welcome to another instalment of our “Second Act” series, where we explore how Canadians are reinventing life after retirement. Let’s dive in.
Retirement recipe
Kenji and Yoko Abe selling products from Sora Farm.Kenji Abe/Supplied
Kenji Abe, 61, and his wife, Yoko, 58, had always loved fresh vegetables and homemade bread. They just never imagined they’d one day be growing and baking them for other people.
When Mr. Abe retired from his office job in automotive manufacturing in 2020, the couple left Ontario for B.C.’s Gabriola Island, a small island about a 20-minute ferry ride from Nanaimo. Today, they run a small-market garden and bakery there called Sora Farm.
Mr. Abe didn’t jump straight into farming, though. After retiring, he started volunteering with an organization for people interested in agriculture, which gave him the chance to apprentice on a few commercial farms. Eventually, he and his wife decided to try it for themselves. The couple used the proceeds from selling their home in Richmond Hill, Ont., to buy the property in British Columbia and launch the farm.
But starting the business was far from easy. The property they purchased on Gabriola Island was undeveloped. “We had to develop basically from forest into a working farm,” Mr. Abe said.
Then came the harder part: making it into a business. On an island of about 4,500 people, growing great vegetables and baking good bread isn’t enough if no one buys them.
“No matter how beautiful and how abundant our vegetables or the breads are, if we cannot sell, if we cannot find the market for those products, it won’t be successful,” he said.
Farming has also required a different mindset than his previous career. “When you work for a company, if there is a problem, you can pretty much fix it, that’s your job,” he said. “But in farming, if you make a mistake, you have to wait another year to fix the problem.”
Along the way, Mr. Abe says farming has taught him lessons that he has been able to apply to his personal life. “Working with nature requires us to be patient and really let go of our feelings of failure and ‘should-have, could-have’ thinking,” Mr. Abe said.
For anyone considering a passion project in retirement, his advice is to begin with what genuinely matters to you. “It is great to start from what you really want to do, things that you think are valuable for yourselves and for the community you serve.”
The Calculator
The retirement age on paper isn’t matching how Canadians actually retire. While Canadians can begin receiving Old Age Security at 65, more people are continuing to work well beyond that age.
Why it matters: As Canadians live longer and more people delay retirement, experts say the gap between official retirement policy and real-world retirement trends is becoming harder to ignore.
The Retirement Receipt
James Paddle-Grant/The Globe and Mail
Should Shaye, 62, retire next year or look for another job?
The numbers: Shaye has about $1.03-million in assets, including a $350,000 RRSP, $227,000 TFSA and a $450,000 rental property, plus a defined benefit pension with an estimated value of $742,000.
The situation: Shaye expects her education-sector job to end next year and is deciding whether to retire at 63. She hopes to spend $75,000 a year after tax, help support her adult son and eventually leave him an inheritance.
Key takeaways from a financial planner: Shaye can likely retire next year by supplementing her pension with RRSP withdrawals while delaying CPP until age 70. The planner also recommends selling her rental property after retirement, moving to a lower-cost, more balanced investment portfolio and drawing down her RRSP strategically to help avoid Old Age Security clawbacks.
Best of the Rest
🏡 AI is quietly taking over real estate listings. A new report suggests more than one-third of Canadian home and rental ads are now written with AI. While it can save realtors time, experts warn buyers should still read listings carefully because the technology can introduce errors or exaggerations.
📈 Choosing a discount brokerage isn’t just about paying the lowest trading fees. The Globe and Mail’s Digital Brokerage Ranking found that the best platforms combine low costs with strong trading tools, research, customer service and ease of use.
💰 Canadians need clarity on how Ottawa plans to pay for its growing spending commitments. With higher defence spending, persistent deficits and economic uncertainty, columnist Rob Carrick argues the federal government should outline whether it plans to raise taxes, reform programs such as Old Age Security or cut spending.
🎰 A forgotten lottery ticket turned into an early retirement plan for one Ontario woman. After playing twice a week for 25 years, a Scarborough resident discovered a ticket sitting in her purse was worth $1-million. She says the windfall means she can retire early, travel through Europe and finally take up hobbies she never had time for while working.
Try This
💸 High fees can quietly erode your investment returns over time. Certified financial planner Anita Bruinsma says that investors should regularly review both their portfolio performance and the fees they’re paying. If your adviser is recommending expensive, underperforming mutual funds without a clear value-add, it may be time to ask tough questions, or find someone new.
