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Email this6:07 pm
September 11, 2013
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Note by admin: this thread was split off from this RRIF discussion
RRSPs can be very useful tools, so figure out the best you can if they're for you - no guarantee you'll be right but that's life. Before you invest in any instrument you should educate yourself about all the rules and ins and outs, RRSPs being no exception. I know a young professional who's making very good money, working abroad and in remote places, paying tax at the highest rates and he's chunking the max in every year and getting very beneficial tax refunds. He plans to get off the treadmill in a few years, around age 37, and live a nomadic, frugal life after retirement, living on maybe $20K a year and paying none or hardly any taxes. He's very happy the government came up with the idea of RRSPs.
6:23 pm
December 17, 2016
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Bill said
... He plans to get off the treadmill in a few years, around age 37, and live a nomadic, frugal life after retirement, living on maybe $20K a year and paying none or hardly any taxes. He's very happy the government came up with the idea of RRSPs.
From someone who has gone through that I wish him the best of luck. I found out that living frugally wasn't much fun - like, what the hell's the point. It's much more fun to just become a minimalist and enjoy the accumulated wealth to the fullest.
6:40 pm
September 11, 2013
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Top It Up, I agree, I'm not really familiar with all the current nuances of frugal vs. minimalist so maybe I used the wrong word, but he's already a minimalist in the sense that he has no interest in acquiring stuff or dependents - he says even having a plant is too much commitment!
6:53 pm
December 17, 2016
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Nope, you understand it perfectly ... $20,000/year is frugal and doesn't allow for a lot of living, it's more just a hangout lifestyle ... boring, boring, boring.
Minimalist to me is just the confluence of wants and needs. While I want and can afford a Porsche Cayenne I really only need a Toyota 4Runner.
6:18 am
September 11, 2013
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TopItUp, not so sure about that, the minimalist I know wouldn't even consider a Cayenne or 4Runner - drives a hand-me down 2008 Corolla with the back seats pulled out so he can sleep in the back when he's prospecting or rock climbing in his times off. It's got 200K on it, he says he's going for at least 500K. And boring is the last word anyone who knows him would ever associate with him.
7:58 am
December 17, 2016
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Each to their own, but from my perch, having pulled the plug 25 years ago at the age of 40 I just see sleeping in the back of a 2008 Corolla as nothing more than "a hangout lifestyle." I mean is that his plan until the end of time?
9:47 am
April 7, 2017
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Do the frugal minimalists have RRIF withdrawals?
9:50 am
December 17, 2016
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Of course, why wouldn't they? Though, still a few years out to be "worried" about that transition.
11:41 am
September 11, 2013
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Top It Up, as far as I know he only sleeps in the back of the Corolla sometimes when he's out in nature. Owns his own (mortgage-free by age 30) house - spartan-furnished, bachelor-pad, couple rooms rented to whatever buddies are currently on marriage/relationship strikes for one reason or another). As far as the end of time, can't speak for him but it seems so - he sees himself still doing triathlons, climbing, rambling around the bush prospecting, into his 80s, as far as I know. Anything but a "hangout lifestyle". And, yes, I assume if there's any left in his RRSP he'll throw it into a RRIF at the appropriate age to continue to grow it sheltered as long as possible, to stay in those low tax rate income levels and to maximize any benefits the good people of Canada want to throw his way.
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