How far will $20 go in retirement?

In my youth, I never gave much thought to my retirement. I was busy working hard to live paycheck to paycheck. As I grew older and had a family, I still lived paycheck to paycheck but had more mouths to feed.

I found a way to send all my children to College or University will little to no out-of-pocket expenses despite living at the poverty line. I managed to keep a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. The kids have grown up, and my husband and I are looking at our future.

"OMG!!!" about sums it up. We are over 50 and have nearly maxed out credit cards, fair credit, and nothing in our savings account. Old school thinking is," I will work until they put me in the grave." My husband, God bless him, is an old-school thinker and had to start blood pressure meds almost immediately after I said the word retirement. Lol.

Now is an excellent food time to go back and catch you up with who we are. I injured myself about ten years ago and am not to be able to return to work at all. I am on a pension of about $24,000 a year. (Less than Minimum wage) and my husband was employed, making about $30,000 a year. Nothing extraordinary here but manageable. We raised our three kids on a combined take-home income of about $40,000 for most of their lives and found a way to make it work. I'm explaining to help you understand that we live small and focused on quality family time instead of possessions.

We always wanted to travel but never had the funds to go very far. Iceland was our dream destination after the kids moved out. However, with Covid, the dream is now to be able to cross the border into the USA. We love camping and the outdoors, so vacations didn't need to be more than a tent and a wooded area.

I'll admit that we felt like we won the lottery for the three years we made over $40,000. Then, finally, after ten years together, we bought our first new mattress and matching dishes. Ahh, the high life. But then the curse hit. MAKE MORE SPEND MORE.

THE PLAN FOR THE FUTURE

1. Retire while we can still enjoy it.

2. Pay off our debt entirely before retirement.

3. Ensure our children were able to stand on their own.

4. Travel

INITIAL ASSESSMENT

1. $19.47 in the bank account

2. $30,000 in current employer RRSP (vested 100%)

3. Monthly income doesn't cover current monthly expenses.

4. Children that moved out....Moved back home.

5. Both are now over 50 years old.

6. Estimated CPP payments less than $1000.00 monthly at 65 years old.

7. Health issues for both of us with Prescriptions alone over $4000.00 monthly.

(currently covered by employer health plan)

8. In over our heads.

If this sounds familiar, please follow us as we sort through this and reach our goals for the future sooner than later.