You’re ready to start saving for your retirement, but where do you even begin? First you need to determine how much to save, and it depends on a number of factors, including:

• How much you expect to spend in retirement
• How much you’ve saved to date
• How much you expect to receive in Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Old Age Security (OAS), and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) benefits
• How long your retirement funds will need to last
• The rate of return you can expect to earn on your invested funds

This is made even more complex because each of these factors may change over time for you, so planning your savings for retirement can feel like trying to hit a moving target.

my65+ can help

The good news is that my65+ will help you design a retirement savings plan in a few easy steps.

When you enroll in the plan, you’ll enter information such as your salary or annual income, the age you plan to retire, and how much you’ve saved to date. Based on this data, my65+ will calculate what your monthly savings rate should be, taking into account:

• Your target retirement income
• Statistical data about life expectancy to estimate how long your retirement savings might need to last
• A projection period where the probability of outliving your savings is no more than 25%, based on guidance provided by FP Canada (the body that awards the Certified Financial Planner designation in Canada)
• Approximately how much you can expect from government benefits (e.g. Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, and Guaranteed Income Supplement)
• Investment return expectations; for planning purposes and based on guidance provided by FP Canada, my65+ assumes your invested funds will grow at the rate of 4.95% (net of fees) per year before retirement, moving to 3.35% (net of fees) once you transition into and through retirement

If you decide to contribute less than the suggested monthly savings amount, my65+ offers a unique feature called “auto-escalation”, which automatically helps you catch up, as well as keep up with annual inflation rates and your income growth. This provides an easy way for you to ensure that you’re building up your savings as efficiently as possible. You can always update or opt out of auto-escalation if it doesn’t feel right for you.

You can log into your my65+ account at any time to make changes to your retirement savings plan.