Are we Preparing for Later Years?

Canadians failing to financially prepare for longer lives

By Brenda Bouw | Pay Day – 11 hours ago

 

For all the efforts we Canadians put into prolonging our lives, from healthy eating and exercise to pharmaceutical support, it seems we forgot to follow up on one thing: saving money for those extra years.

A new survey conducted for Blackrock Canada says Canadians may be living longer, but not saving more to compensate.
“We’re calling it the Longevity Paradox – people know they have to prepare for long retirements, but they’re not really doing what they need to do to get there,” said Noel Archard, head of BlackRock Canada.
The survey shows 56 per cent of Canadians believe their savings will need to last at least 25 years in retirement, which would take them until they’re 90 years old if they retired at the traditional age of 65.
Younger investors are even more optimistic, believing they’ll need at least 30 years worth of retirement savings. (It’s not clear whether they expect to live until they're 90, or retire earlier than 65, but both would be considered optimistic).
“I guess that’s good news,” said Archard. “But the worse news is that only about 15 per cent of them have a clear idea of how much that means they will need to save.”
The survey shows investors who haven’t yet hit retirement have been good at socking away cash, but only 59 per cent have a plan. Blackrock says that number drops by about half among younger investors and those with less than $100,000 in retirement savings
“Those are arguably the folks who need a plan the most,” Archard says.
The survey comes follows a recent report from the C.D. Howe Institute which shows Canadian life expectancy has increased on average since 1950, and calls on policymakers to adapt through changes to tax and pension rules.
The Blackrock report also calls on policymakers, as well as employers and the financial industry, to help solve what it calls “defining financial challenge of our age.”
“Investors are unjustifiably optimistic and dangerously passive,” the Blackrock report states.
The survey says 70 per cent of investors believe government pension plans will be there for them in retirement and 24 per cent don't have an RRSP. Nearly two in five investors have no workplace retirement plan, including a quarter of currently employed investors, the survey says.
“There tends to be a false sense of security when it comes to planning for retirement,” says Archard. “We hope that the money will somehow be there when we need it but we’re not taking the action required to ensure it is. This is a serious problem, and addressing it must become an urgent priority.”
The survey was conducted in early May included 1,720 investors who had investment of more than $5,000 outside of real estate and workplace pensions.

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When you were younger didn't you think you could accomplish anything, do anything and
become anything you wanted? Shouldn't you still think that?

Something for Educational Institutions to Think About

Tuition Free College for Oregon Students

By Deborah Williams

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Legislators  in Oregon are considering an idea that could be the answer for so many prospective college students who don’t have the financial resources to pay for college, and they don’t want to take on its tremendous debt.  Steven Dubois pens an article on The Huffington Post website that describes the new program, which  was started by Seattle’s Economic Opportunity Institute and is based partially on an Australian model.  The idea, Pay It Forward, allows students to attend Oregon’s public universities without paying tuition or securing a loan.  In exchange, students will have three percent of their paychecks deducted for about 25 years and deposited into a fund to pay for future students who choose to participate.  Graduates from two-year colleges would have 1.5 percent deducted instead of the three percent.  Those who do not complete their graduation requirements “would pay a pro-rated portion of their incomes.”
The bill was passed unanimously by the state’s legislature and probably will be signed by the governor within the next few weeks.  Should it become law, Pay It Forward will begin as a pilot project by the 2015 Legislature.  The startup costs, estimated to be about $9 billion, still need to be resolved because the first participants would not be able to contribute to the fund for several years.

To be Schooled or Not

Research Required to Graduate | Home

Reasons to Stay in School

By Deborah Williams

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At one time or another, almost all students wonder if what they are studying will be helpful after graduation.  For some, it is the reason that they drop out before they graduate high school.  A recent article on the Teen page of The Huffington Post published a summary of what some Reddit users say are the least and most useful things that they learned in school.  Here are some of the most useful things that these users learned in school:
Most Useful

• Teachers can be friends, too.
• How to communicate with people
• Forced presentations in class really got me over my social anxieties and made me a less shy person
• How to write essays.  I hated it at high school but it really helped with my University assignments.
• Social skills are probably the most valuable thing you learn in high school.  Just in terms of everyday life use.
• Learning to use computers, write a résumé and definitely learning how to read an analog clock in grade 1.
• How to properly write a CV (curriculum vita)
• Learned how to save my money in a bank

Graduation Requirements

Readd the article below and share your comments.

Research Required to Graduate

By Deborah Williams

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Until recent years, research projects have been an expected requirement  for students, especially in secondary school.  That practice is not an expectation for many students, and when it is, it varies from school to school and from teacher to teacher.  A recent post on the lohud.com blog on The Journal website reports that the New York regents board is considering a requirement that all New York high school students must produce  a research paper in order to graduate.  The requirement is aligned with the Common Core learning standards, and the Board of Regents is likely to adopt this requirement at its next board meeting.
The Regents are considering including minimum requirements for the Regents Research Paper:  at least five pages long and at least four sources.  Also, students must complete the paper before taking the English Regents, which is typically in the eleventh grade.
English teachers would be responsible for teaching research skills, and accommodations would be made for students with limited English skills.  Some consideration is being given to allowing students to adapt a paper from another class, and who might score the papers has yet to be determined.