79-year-old fitness influencer Joan MacDonald.Joan MacDonald/Supplied
Joan MacDonald’s wake-up call came from her daughter, writes freelance fitness columnist Alyssa Ages. At 70 years old, Joan had high blood pressure, lymphedema in her ankles and kidney failure. Basic movements like getting down on the floor and back up again were strenuous.
“You’re on a highway to a nursing home, mom,” Michelle MacDonald recalled telling her mother.
Michelle, who is a trainer, was visiting her mom in Coburg, Ont., when she first noticed the extent of her deteriorating condition. Standing inside Joan’s home, Michelle watched as her mom struggled to walk up the stairs. She saw the broken capillaries in her face from acid reflux. She learned that Joan was on blood pressure drugs that are nearly impossible to wean off.
Michelle was supposed to get back on a plane in a few days but she couldn’t leave without trying to get her mother to understand the gravity of her health. They spoke for a long time about the risks of continuing to ignore her mounting issues, and the changes they could make with just a little bit more movement. She wasn’t sure if any of it was getting through.
It did. By the time Michelle woke up the next morning, her mother was waiting for her in the car, wearing a black Good Life T-shirt, baggy black sweatpants and an old pair of sneakers, ready to head to the gym. “I was bound, bent and determined to show her that I could actually do it,” said Joan. “That I was good for my word. That I would see it through.”
Nearly a decade later, Joan is a fitness influencer with more than two million followers across multiple platforms, the owner of a fitness app that helps other women begin their strength journeys and an author.
Read the full article here.
Should Mimi, 52, downsize to help her two kids financially?
Mimi describes herself as a 52-year-old professional who lives alone and is supporting her two children through university.
“I need to make some decisions,” Mimi wrote.
She earns $210,000 a year working in education. Both Mimi and her employer contribute to her defined contribution pension plan, which is valued at $657,000, and she has a large, mortgage-free house with a rental suite in the university town where she works.
“The house has a huge yard and it is older, making it hard for me to keep it up,” Mimi wrote. The rental suite generates $1,580 a month. “The house is heavy, psychologically and financially. But it is beautiful!”
Last year she bought a condo in the city for her elder daughter to live in while she goes to university. The mortgage is $410,000. Should Mimi keep the condo?
“Or, do I sell it all? Will I save more money by divesting myself of these properties than I would make by holding on to them?” she wrote. “I have my pension, but really that is all I have, so I need to be careful.” Any sale or downsizing of her house would be several years out.
Mimi plans to retire when she is 65 with a tentative spending target of $100,000 a year after tax.
“How much support can I give my kids?” she wrote.
For this Financial Facelift, Barbara Knoblach, a certified financial planner with Money Coaches Canada in Edmonton, looks at Mimi’s situation.
Get some FREE advice from The Globe and Mail about your unique financial situation by e-mailing [email protected] to be part of our Financial Facelift series. You can share your story under a false name and our photographers will obscure your identity in one of our trademark Financial Facelift photos. Here are some recent facelifts for you to read.
We’re especially keen to hear from Canadians worried about how the trade war with the Trump administration will impact their ability to retire – or – ave for retirement. Have you changed your investment strategy? Your retirement timeline? Your travel plans? Hopefully our advice can help you weather these stormy times and ensure a secure financial future.
Why the algorithm approach beats the 4% rule at estimating your retirement income
In this Charting Retirement article, Frederick Vettese, former chief actuary of Morneau Shepell and author of the PERC retirement calculator, compares the 4-per-cent rule of drawing down 4 per cent of your savings in the first year of retirement versus how using an algorithm can inform a retirement strategy.
In case you missed it
New federal disability benefit launches in July – but Canadians can’t apply for it yet
Weeks ahead of the planned rollout of a new federal benefit for people with disabilities, Canadians still have no instructions on how to apply for it, and recipients in Ontario are unclear whether their payments will be clawed back by the province, writes personal economics reporter Erica Alini.
The Trudeau government announced in its last federal budget, in 2024, that the newly created Canada Disability Benefit, or CDB, would provide up to $2,400 a year – or $200 a month – to eligible low-income beneficiaries, starting in July of this year. The payments are meant to supplement existing financial supports for Canadians with disabilities, many of whom live in poverty.
But as of the end of May, the administrative rollout of the CDB, now overseen by the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney, remains mired in uncertainty. Ottawa has yet to publish an application form for the benefit, a delay advocates say could cause some people to miss out on at least the first monthly payment.
Another issue is whether the benefit will trigger reductions of social assistance payments.
Read the full article here.
Many parents worry they can’t afford to leave an inheritance – but their kids may be banking on one
Affordability concerns and trade tensions between Canada and the U.S. have many parents worried about whether they will be able to leave an inheritance for their children, notes retirement reporter Meera Raman.
Four in five Canadian parents say the rising cost of living is the greatest threat to their ability to pass down their wealth, a report released Wednesday from the Money Wise Institute found. Nearly 60 per cent expect to spend most of their assets during their lifetime.
Yet while older Canadians are concerned they may not have enough to leave behind, many young adults are banking on an inheritance to secure their financial future. More than half of millennial and Gen Z respondents in the report said they expect to receive a windfall.
That gap in expectations – widened by economic headwinds and market volatility – is exposing a lack of communication and planning within many families, financial planners say.
“The cost of living is rising, and now with the tariffs, the uncertainty, and still high prices – it really is affecting Canadians,” said Kelley Keehn, co-founder of the Money Wise Institute, a financial education company based in Toronto.
Read the full article here.
Retirement Q & A
This week, we turn to The Globe’s Inside the Market mailbag and freelance columnist Gordon Pape to answer this one.
Q: I will turn 71 this year. My strategy when converting my RRSP to an RRIF is to transfer the minimum required amount (5.28 per cent) in shares of an individual stock from my RRIF account to a non-registered trading account. I will have to pay tax on this transfer. My question is, at some point, if I sell these shares – hopefully at a profit – that I have just paid tax on, will I have to pay tax on the capital gains?
A: Yes, you will have to pay capital gains tax on profits, but it is not double taxation. Once the shares are out of the RRIF, you’re starting clean from a tax perspective.
The book value of the shares is the price at the time you moved them into the non-registered account. If you were to sell them the next day at the withdrawal price, there would be no tax. You’ll only pay tax on any profits you make going forward – in other words, on any future gains.
Gordon Pape is editor and publisher of the Internet Wealth Builder and Income Investor newsletters.
Interested in more stories about retirement? Sixty Five aims to inspire Canadians to live their best lives, confidently and securely. Read more here and sign up for our weekly Retirement newsletter.