Mapping the road to retirement
Though their jobs seem worlds apart, they’re not all that different: Hilary Farr is the sassy designer on the popular TV show Love It or List It, while Bill Hill is a financial planning consultant with the Royal Bank of Canada.
Both help couples prioritize their wants versus needs before making important decisions — be it a home renovation ( Farr) or retirement plan ( Hill) — and are now working together to get Canadians talking about their future.
“The wants aren’t always attainable because of the budget,” says Farr, who is often slagged on the show by angry homeowners for not meeting their expectations. In the end, the tough- love designer must convince them that what she can do with the money they’ve given her will be enough to get them to love their home again and not list it. The key is to hone the design to fit their needs, she says.
The same is true when planning your retirement, says Hill. Canadians must first decide how they want to spend their golden years, then crunch the numbers to determine if they can afford the desired lifestyle.
“Too often, the word ‘ retirement’ is tied to the money, rather than to the life you hope to lead when you retire,” the veteran financial planner says. “I tell my clients, ‘ Don’t look so much at income,
but instead at your expenses and consumption.’”
Planning early is paramount, he says.
“You should start by asking yourself, ‘ What do I want to do when I retire?’ If you’re part of a couple, have you discussed each other’s hopes for retirement — or are you assuming your partner fully agrees with what you personally want to do? If you’re an individual, have you thought about what will be
truly important to you when you retire?”
A recent RBC survey of 1,500 working Canadians 50 and older found nearly three- quarters ( 73 per cent) have no clue what they’ll do with all their free time after retirement. For full- time workers, that adds up to 2,000 hours a year, Hill says.
“It’s hard to envision retirement. It’s more than a vacation,” says Hill, who encourages couples to “start the conversation” at least 10 years before retiring to map out a lifestyle plan that works for both. “You need to take charge.”
According to the online survey, which was conducted between Dec. 30 and Jan. 4, nearly two- thirds ( 64 per cent) of respondents said they’ ve done some planning on how they will finance retirement, where they will travel ( 44 per cent) and what activities — from golf to starting a new business — they want to do ( 46 per cent).
More than half ( 61 per cent) of those polled said they plan to stay in their current home when they retire, 28 per cent plan to renovate and one- third plan to downsize to a smaller home.
“You need to have a strong foundation and a shared vision to ensure the end result satisfies everyone, whether you’re thinking about retirement or your home,” says Farr, who has partnered with RBC on its Your Future by Design (retirementdesigners.ca) program to help Canadians prioritize their retirement wants and needs. It’s the same struggle homeowners face on Love it or List it, she says.
But like Hill, Farr advises clients to “reach for the stars” when drafting their wish list and not let budget skew what’s important to them.