Sunday February 12th RRSPs

What are you saving for?  While answers to this question may vary widely, often people will respond “retirement”.  Not all of us have company pension plans and many are concerned that the Canada Pension Plan and personal savings will not provide a sufficient income.  It will come as no surprise to regular readers that we have books on all areas of personal finance including retirement and RRSPs, but you may be interested to know that we’re going further in helping you get the answers you need. 

No, library staff won’t be advising you on your RRSPs, but we have arranged workshops for you to attend at Brodie and Waverley branchesTBPL regularly partners with local experts and professionals to deliver informative and timely workshops in a variety of subjects.  Join Kara Polson (Financial Consultant) for a detailed look at how to make the best use of your RRSPs on February 14th at Brodie and February 16th at Waverley.  Both sessions run from 6-7:30pm and will help you develop the best strategy to achieve your goal.

Now, about those books, all the books selected are Canadian publications.  There’s nothing worse than reading a financial planning book that gets right down to the nitty gritty, but all the information is for an American audience. One of those highlighted below chosen is purely focused on RRSPs; while the other two will help you look at your retirement planning overall.

For starters “The Moolala Guide to Rockin’ Your RRSP” is written in an accessible and engaging manner.  Author Bruce Sellery breaks it down into five steps to help you retire with the funds you need.  He guides you through creating your foundation, figuring out how much money you’ll need, developing a plan, taking action on that plan, and finally (possibly most importantly) sticking with that plan.  His focus is making your retirement plans achievable with a dash of the reality check some of us need.

Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s books are well written and accessible with great worksheets and “Never Too Late” is no exception.  Clear steps are provided for you to figure out where you are now, what your goal is, and how to get there.  Both “Never too Late” and “The Moolala Guide to Rockin’ your RRSP” are clear, easy to read, and provide concrete steps.  I particularly appreciate Vaz-Oxlade’s breakdown of the difference between a TFSA and RRSP.  It’s this kind of information that we don’t all have a strong grasp on and need an authoritative source to help us work through.

Finally, we have “The Retirement Time Bomb:  How to Achieve Financial Independence in a Changing World” by Gordon Pape.  This guide focuses on how retirement planning has changed and how we must change with it.  In the introduction Pape talks about the speed of change, putting it in familiar terms.  From fears CPP would run out and the younger generation wouldn’t benefit (not such a concern any more) to GICs no longer being a cornerstone of retirement planning.  He provides guidelines (e.g. “Watch the Economic Climate”) and then digs into practical matters.

All of these workshops and books offer something a little different and are presented written in a manner that even someone completely disinterested in finance and investments can connect with.  The readability is extremely helpful as many of us may prefer to play ostrich and put our heads in the sand.  Don’t play ostrich, come out for our RRSP programs, check out someour books, and plan for your best future.

Ruth Hamlin-Douglas