The benefits of planning your

retirement are multifold. So why

don’t more people do it?

The Value of Financial Planning

study defined ‘comprehensive

integrated financial planning’ as

that in which one’s main financial

advisor has provided financial

planning for major life goals and

events, or at least three of the

following planning components:

household budgeting, tax,

retirement, estate planning,

investing, debt or risk management.

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• Fewer than one out of five Canadians have a comprehensive plan. Yet among those who do, 61 per cent regularly put aside money for retirement, as compared with only 26 per cent who do no planning. Those with comprehensive plans also report feeling more confident in their ability to retire than their non-planning counterparts.

• Canadians with comprehensive plans have a more diversified mix of retirement savings vehicles than those without plans. Eighty per cent have RRSPs, 38 per cent have TFSAs, 55 per cent have non-registered investments in their retirement portfolio, among other investments.

• Those with comprehensive plans are much more likely to be regularly saving for other life goals like buying a home or paying off the mortgage, children’s education, travel, emergency funds, charitable donations and much more.

• The first wave of boomers is turned 65 in the year 2012. A growing proportion of boomers are opting to extend their work-lives for financial reasons and lifestyle, and this will have significant financial planning implications.

• Whether you downsize your home, change your primary residence, buy a vacation property or sell the cottage, real estate decisions have lifestyle and financial planning implications. Tax, income, debt, and cross border issues are just a few to consider.

• Legacy isn’t only about when you are gone. Increasingly, Canadians are talking to professionals about planned giving options for both today and tomorrow.