A few months ago, I found myself doing something I suspect many people in their late 40s do.
I was looking at retirement calculators, checking account balances, estimating CPP benefits, and asking myself a simple question:
Am I actually on track?
Not on track in some vague sense.
On track to retire when I want to retire.
On track to maintain the lifestyle my family and I have worked hard to build.
On track to stop working because I choose to, not because I have to.
That question is ultimately what led me to create Canadian Retirement Engineer.
Retirement Suddenly Feels Real
For most of my working life, retirement felt like something far off in the distance.
There was always plenty of time.
Plenty of years left to save.
Plenty of opportunities to make up for bad financial decisions or periods where life simply got in the way.
But somewhere along the way, retirement stopped being a distant concept.
At 49, with roughly 9 to 10 years before I’d like to retire, the timeline feels very different.
The decisions I make today matter more than they did ten or twenty years ago.
That’s exciting.
It’s also a little intimidating.
And if I’m being honest, that’s one of the reasons I’m starting this website.
An Engineer’s Approach to Retirement
I’ve spent much of my career solving problems through planning, analysis, measurement, and continuous improvement.
Whether it’s a construction project, a large technology implementation, or a process improvement initiative, engineers tend to ask similar questions:
- Where are we today?
- Where are we trying to get to?
- What assumptions are we making?
- What risks could impact the outcome?
- How will we know if we’re on track?
The more I thought about retirement, the more I realized it deserves the same approach.
Questions like:
- How much will I actually need?
- When should I take CPP?
- How does OAS fit into the picture?
- What role should my RRSP and TFSA play?
- What am I overlooking?
- What assumptions am I making today that may prove completely wrong ten years from now?
Rather than guessing, I want to understand the numbers and make informed decisions.
This website is where I’ll document that process.
Why I’m Sharing This Publicly
I’m not a financial planner.
I’m not an investment advisor.
I’m simply a Canadian engineer trying to navigate retirement planning and sharing what I learn along the way.
The reality is that I don’t have all the answers.
In fact, one of the reasons I’m starting this site is because I’m still looking for many of them.
I suspect there are thousands of Canadians asking the same questions I am:
- How much is enough?
- When should I take CPP?
- Should I prioritize my RRSP or TFSA?
- What’s the most tax-efficient withdrawal strategy?
- How do I turn savings into retirement income?
- What mistakes should I avoid?
Instead of trying to figure it all out on my own, I thought it might be useful to document the journey.
Maybe other people can learn from what works.
Maybe they can learn from what doesn’t.
And maybe together we can all make a few better decisions.
Some Lessons Took Me Longer Than They Should Have
One thing I’ve noticed as I get older is that some lessons only truly make sense after you’ve lived through them.
There are things I wish I had understood earlier.
I wish I had fully appreciated the power of starting early.
I wish I had understood just how valuable time is when it comes to investing.
I wish I had spent more time learning about retirement planning in my 30s instead of assuming I would eventually figure it all out.
Fortunately, some decisions worked out well.
Others taught lessons that were a little more expensive.
The good news is that every success and every mistake teaches you something.
Looking back, I don’t have many regrets.
But I definitely have a list of things I wish someone had explained to me sooner.
Part of this website is about documenting those lessons before I forget them.
The Conversations I’m Having With My Children
As I get closer to retirement, I find myself thinking more about the next generation.
Like most parents, I want my children to have opportunities I didn’t have.
I hope they can avoid some of the mistakes I made.
I hope they understand financial concepts much earlier than I did.
Not because I expect them to become financial experts.
But because life becomes a little easier when you understand a few important principles early on.
Things like:
- Start investing as soon as you can
- Live below your means
- Avoid unnecessary debt
- Learn how taxes work
- Give your money time to grow
- Focus on consistency, not perfection
The older I get, the more I believe financial success isn’t usually the result of one brilliant decision.
It’s the result of hundreds or thousands of small decisions repeated over decades.
If this website helps my children someday, it will already have been worth creating.
And if it helps a few other families as well, even better.
What You’ll Find Here
Over the coming years, I’ll be documenting my journey toward retirement and sharing what’s working, what’s changing, and what I’m learning.
Topics will include:
- Retirement planning
- CPP and OAS decisions
- RRSP and TFSA strategies
- Retirement income planning
- Investment lessons
- Financial mistakes and what they taught me
- Retirement calculators and tools
- Conversations about money and financial literacy
- Lessons I wish I had learned sooner
Some posts will focus on numbers.
Some will focus on strategy.
Others will simply be reflections from someone trying to figure things out as retirement gets closer.
Let’s See Where This Journey Takes Us
I don’t pretend to have everything figured out.
I’m still learning.
I’m still adjusting my plans.
And I fully expect some of my assumptions to change over the next decade.
That’s actually the point.
This website isn’t about presenting myself as an expert.
It’s about documenting a real journey toward retirement and sharing what I learn along the way.
If you’re approaching retirement, thinking about retirement, teaching your children about money, or simply trying to make better financial decisions, I hope you’ll find something useful here.
Thanks for stopping by.
Let’s see where this journey takes us.