Last week, The Globe and Mail took an extensive look at Canada’s boomer population. The week-long series, entitled ‘Boomer Shift’, explored a number of subjects relating to boomer professionals and their relationship with the rest of Canada. Some pieces are optimistic, some focus on the negative, some have controversial opinions, and some have very valuable insights. It’s all worth a look and offers a great opportunity to discuss important topic for the boomers community, such as housing, retirement concerns, and savings. We’ve included a few highlights below, but you can check out the entire series at the Globe and Mail website.
To start things off, this article takes a look at all the important stats, numbers, and facts about who the baby boomers are and how they are represented in Canada. A nice precursor to get you ready for the coming insights.
Is Canada ready for the shift?
As the very large and prominent boomers population prepares to retire, this article looks at the very real concern of how the rest of Canada will cope. It looks at the various aspects of Canada that could be effected by the so called ‘boomer shift’. Seeing as boomers represent a large majority of Canadian consumers it means the overall economy will likely feel a significant effect. Also, many businesses rely on more experienced employees and haven’t done an adequate job grooming replacements.
Boomers aren’t a drain, they’re saviors
This editorial from Moses Znaimer, founder of ZoomerMedia and president of CARP, looks at the perceived stress the boomers community (or “Zoomers”, as he’s found of saying) is putting on the rest of Canada. He highlights the general thought that boomers are feeding off the system and are content to live off of pensions without contributing. But in return, he argues that the boomers generation is by far the biggest contributor to Canada’s economic system. Likewise, Znaimer attacks the notion that working boomers steal the jobs from younger professional, arguing instead that boomers are largely establishing their own businesses. A great personal look at how boomers feel about their reputation.
Six very different views of retirement
A very interesting article that looks at the lives of six boomers from across Canada as they begin to enter into the retirement age. As you can imagine, the paths are very different and you are able to see a variety of situations explored. The article features boomers who are married, divorced, without children, with small children, with comfortable savings, struggling with money. All parties have their concerns and their hopes of what retirement will offer them. It’s a worthwhile read no matter what your situation might be.
“It used to be a debate on whether to take it at 60 or to hang on until 65. That’s changing. Now the debate is starting to shift toward whether they should take CPP at 65 or wait until 66, 67 or 70.” that quote comes from Ross McShane director of financial planning with McLarty & Co. Wealth Management in Ottawa. A lot of factors determine why boomers are holding off on collecting pension; people are generally living longer, quality of life is better at an older age, boomers tend to work longer. Taking all these factors into account, your plan for your CPP may have changed. Check out this article for some insight into the decision.
We hope you enjoy what the series has to offer and don’t forget to check out the rest of the articles at The Globe and Mail’s website.