Financial Planning for Retirement

[George Wallace]

God forbid if you need your pension payments for mortgages and the like once you retire.

Ummm.  You should have thought about that a long, long time ago.  Best advice I got when I was going to join, was to "buy a house on every Posting.  By the time you retire, you will own a house."  Even if you don't want to stay in that house, you will have the payments for your next home, wherever you wish to retire to.....unless you intend to live in Toronto or Vancouver.....then there is no hope of ever having the cash, unless you win the Loto Max.

Your personal finances are not the CF's responsibility; they are yours.  Plan accordingly.

 

[Stoker]

Ummm.  You should have thought about that a long, long time ago.  Best advice I got when I was going to join, was to "buy a house on every Posting.  By the time you retire, you will own a house."  Even if you don't want to stay in that house, you will have the payments for your next home, wherever you wish to retire to.....unless you intend to live in Toronto or Vancouver.....then there is no hope of ever having the cash, unless you win the Loto Max.

Your personal finances are not the CF's responsibility; they are yours.  Plan accordingly.

George, this certainly don't apply to me as I am still a serving member ,but I seen plenty of full time reservists who have retired and for whatever reason need the money sooner than later. I certainly think its the CF's responsibility to be on time for things such as pensions, something that people depend on.

 

[George Wallace]

George, this certainly don't apply to me as I am still a serving member ,but I seen plenty of full time reservists who have retired and for whatever reason need the money sooner than later. I certainly think its the CF's responsibility to be on time for things such as pensions, something that people depend on.

Seriously.  It doesn't matter if you are still serving or not.  Nor does it matter if you are Reg or Reserve.  Your personal finances are yours to look after, not the CF's.  Poor planning on your part, is not a failure on the part of someone else.  Should the CF be on time with its Pay and Pensions?  Yes.  As should all government cheques: pay, pensions,  EI, Welfare, Tax Refunds, etc.  If any individual is so reliant on the government for a cheque to pay their mortgage, then they, the individual, did not plan very well.  There are extreme cases where individuals may fall into situations due to huge medical bills, illness, etc. where this may happen, but for the most part the vast majority have no excuse to be destitute waiting for a cheque.


recceguy can attest to days gone by where CWO's were retiring from the CF and becoming janitors in the Single Quarters on base to etch out a living.  They had not planned for "retirement".  Then we also had follow on generations of soldiers later who lived in PMQs, bought themselves expensive cars, boats, snowmobiles, pickup trucks, and other expensive toys.  Again, come time to leave the CF, they had to sell off all their luxury toys to survive.  Is this the CF's fault?  Of course not.  They made poor choices on how to spend their pay, and later had to live off of whatever was left of their pensions after bill payments.  Everyone should plan and maintain an "Emergency Fund".  To have to live in anticipation for that cheque to arrive is a sad statement and reflection on one's situation.

I stand by my statement that the individual, not the CF, is responsible for their financial planning. 

 

[AmmoTech90]

George, sometimes the comments you make leave me dumbfounded, but not this time.

What if your financial planning involved pension payments?  Was that a mistake?  Do you seriously believe that a pension is not a form of financial planning?  How is relying on your pension for your future not taking personal responsibility?

I could retire in 30 days and live off my pension because I have contributed to it for the last 23 years.  Planning on received your CF pension in timely and reliable manner is taking personal responsibility.  If you believe otherwise you are simply an apologist for all the petty bureaucrats whose attitudes are reflected in Kipling.

Do you really stand by your statement,

You should have thought about that a long, long time ago.

regarding the fact that pension payments may be delayed because of a policy change less than a year old?

 

[George Wallace]

Are you all trying to tell me that you are currently in the situation that you are literally living pay cheque/pension cheque to pay cheque/pension cheque?  Do you really want me to blame "the petty bureaucrats" for that?  Sorry, I have gone through some hard times and blame my own financial planning for most of them.  Again, I agree with everyone, that "government cheques", of whatever type, should be delivered on time.  If they aren't, then ask yourself if you have at any time done any contingency planning for such an event.  That is your responsibility to do. 

As for pensions being a form of financial planning, they are only part of the equation, not the complete sum.  One has to plan for retirement.  Build up one's bank account(s), Investments, RSPs, etc.  Pay off debts and mortgages prior to retiring....not wait to retire and accumulate debt.  Job hunt.  In no way am I being apologetic for any bureaucratic policy or lack of.  No one can seriously live solely on a CF pension, so as a serving or retired member of the CF one should be doing a lot more to their financial planning than relying on a CF Pension. 

 

[Stoker]

Seriously.  It doesn't matter if you are still serving or not.  Nor does it matter if you are Reg or Reserve.  Your personal finances are yours to look after, not the CF's.  Poor planning on your part, is not a failure on the part of someone else.  Should the CF be on time with its Pay and Pensions?  Yes.  As should all government cheques: pay, pensions,  EI, Welfare, Tax Refunds, etc.  If any individual is so reliant on the government for a cheque to pay their mortgage, then they, the individual, did not plan very well.  There are extreme cases where individuals may fall into situations due to huge medical bills, illness, etc. where this may happen, but for the most part the vast majority have no excuse to be destitute waiting for a cheque.


recceguy can attest to days gone by where CWO's were retiring from the CF and becoming janitors in the Single Quarters on base to etch out a living.  They had not planned for "retirement".  Then we also had follow on generations of soldiers later who lived in PMQs, bought themselves expensive cars, boats, snowmobiles, pickup trucks, and other expensive toys.  Again, come time to leave the CF, they had to sell off all their luxury toys to survive.  Is this the CF's fault?  Of course not.  They made poor choices on how to spend their pay, and later had to live off of whatever was left of their pensions after bill payments.  Everyone should plan and maintain an "Emergency Fund".  To have to live in anticipation for that cheque to arrive is a sad statement and reflection on one's situation.

I stand by my statement that the individual, not the CF, is responsible for their financial planning.

George I can't argue with you on the statement you made that its the individual's responsibility for their financial planning. Unfortunately I see this much too often where I work. You talk about people being being irresponsible in their finances as you mentioned in your post and its true many times its avoidable. That being said sh*t happens and its up to the member to sort this out.  When and if this happens I think the mbr should have the expectation and it should be the responsibility of the CF to ensure payments they are responsible for are delivered on time. Sometimes the best financial planning in the world doesn't prepare the person for certain situations. That is the problem with the CF especially around finances, nobody is taken to task for their mistakes and there is an general malaise and a attitude when it comes to providing the member on time what he worked towards for many years.

 

[jollyjacktar]

I agree that it is ultimately our responsibility to plan correctly for financial manners.  That being said, however, the CF could do more.  Why not have the youngsters assign part of their pay into such a thing as an RRSP when they reach St Jean for training.  We already sign on for compulsary life insurance etc, they could make it compulsary to commence a RRSP or similar device combined with financial planning guidance.  Start them off right, right from the beginning and by the end of their career they'll hopefully be set up nicely into retirement.

They're starting to really push towards a healthy physical lifestyle, with training, fitness and diet.  Why not include it to a healthy financial lifestyle too?

There is no excuse from and by the system as to why they cannot deliver their end of the bargain with respect to pension and PIL on time like everyone else.  It's the computer age for Christ's sake, it should be as simple as a few keystrokes.  Handrolic records died 20 years ago.

 

[wesleyd]

Ummm.  You should have thought about that a long, long time ago.  Best advice I got when I was going to join, was to "buy a house on every Posting.  By the time you retire, you will own a house."  Even if you don't want to stay in that house, you will have the payments for your next home, wherever you wish to retire to.....unless you intend to live in Toronto or Vancouver.....then there is no hope of ever having the cash, unless you win the Loto Max.

Yes that is great financial planning, unless you have lost money the last two posting because the market was on a downturn as it is predicted to do so for the next several years. Recieving your entitlements on time is the CF's responsibility. Not the members. The onus is on the CF and to have this sorted out in short order, they knew it was going to happen well in advance.

Your personal finances are not the CF's responsibility; they are yours.  Plan accordingly.
People have planned accordingly, no one told me that when I retired that my pension may be held up for a few years. This statements rings of "Suck it up". I am sure most CF members wouldn't mind if their pay was held up for a few years due to an audit as we have all planned accordingly. :

 

[wesleyd]

If any individual is so reliant on the government for a cheque to pay their mortgage, then they, the individual, did not plan very well.  There are extreme cases where individuals may fall into situations due to huge medical bills, illness, etc. where this may happen, but for the most part the vast majority have no excuse to be destitute waiting for a cheque.

Umm, so where have you been receiving your paycheque from during you time in service? I know mine comes from the government. And yes I use it to pay my mortgage and other things. Are you saying I am making bad financial decisions by using my pay to pay for a mortgage? Really?

 

[PuckChaser]

Umm, so where have you been receiving your paycheque from during you time in service? I know mine comes from the government. And yes I use it to pay my mortgage and other things. Are you saying I am making bad financial decisions by using my pay to pay for a mortgage? Really?

Didn't you know you're not supposed to count on anything the government gives you (PLD, Pay, etc) to support your family? You should be able to save all of it and pay a mortgage like a fiscally responsible person.  :

 

[George Wallace]

FFS.

wesleyd and PuckChaser

This topic was spun off (and as it has been spun off, most of the context has been lost) of one on a slow policy change to pay/allowances increase and cessation of accumulation of Severance Pay and Reserve Force Retirement Gratuity.  It has nothing to do with your current 'regular' pay going to the bank.  It is a policy change that is not happening immediately to everyones satisfaction and they are bitching about it having consequences down the road.

I have agreed with the statements that the government, DND and CF being a department of the government, should ensure that they get their pay, pensions, Welfare Cheques, Income Tax Refunds, etc. to people on time.  We all know that there have been problems with them doing so at times, however this is not what we were talking about.  The original discussion was on a slow process in bringing about a new/change to a policy regarding CANFORGEN 062/12 CMP 029/12 301516Z MAR 12 - PAY/ALLOWANCES INCREASE AND CESSATION OF ACCUMULATION OF SEVERANCE PAY AND RESERVE FORCE RETIREMENT GRATUITY (RFRG). 

This has been out since March 2012 and people are still bitching.  Nine months and they rather bitch than sort out/make plans to their financial situation to cover future consequences of this CANFORGEN.  The CF is following the lead of the Public Civil Service, as it does with your Pay Raises, in regards to Severance Pay.  As for the Reserve Force Retirement Gratuity, for the majority of Reservists that was a pittance anyway, and now they may actually have gotten the better of the deals, as the PIL is calculated on every year of service, not breaking it down to Class A being 1/4 time, Class B and C as being Full time served. 

In reply to your comments that you are "not supposed to count on anything the government gives you"; I will reply that you are correct.  Don't spend the money that you think you are entitled to, until you are actually entitled to it and it is in your bank.  That is told to every soldier prior to going on Tour.  I even got burnt that way myself, when I bought a Laptop for Tour a week prior to departure, only to be told 24 hrs prior to my flight that I was not going.  Luckily, I was not living pay cheque to pay cheque like some.  Did the CF owe me for that expense?  Of course not.  It was my own responsibility.  When it comes to a mortgage PuckChaser, please fill your boots and do not be a responsible financial planner in your home ownership pursuits and see how it goes.  Use your friggin head.  :