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mousme KK signed us both up for a two-day retirement planning course that's offered for free to public servants in Canada, and today was the first day. The first day is all about the math: how long you have to work to get a "full" pension and how old you have to be, and what a "full" pension actually means. Honestly, it was pretty depressing, and just confirmed my long-held suspicion that I am going to have to work until I drop dead at my desk like that employee at Wells Fargo last year who died and wasn't even missed for a couple of days and spent the weekend dead at her desk before she was discovered by cleaners on the Monday.
I'll be eligible for my "full" pension by today's normal retirement age of 65 (I might even be eligible a year earlier), but the reduction in salary compared to my current earnings, combined with what I assume will be a skyrocketing cost of living means I will likely never be able to afford to live without working. I'm not currently making enough money to pay our bills AND put aside enough money for retirement. I've put away a modest amount of savings, but they likely wouldn't see me through more than a couple of years as a "top-up" to my pension.
Of course, climate change might kills us all in the next decade, rendering this entirely moot. :P
The course was also stultifyingly dull. Your gal is not a fan of maths, and there were so many numbers. So many. The good news is that KK may get to retire and may even get to enjoy her retirement for a bit before the heat death ot the universe.
After the full day of the retirement course I barely had time to pull together a handful of ingredients to get dinner started before it was time for another meeting. A couple of months ago I was approached by someone from my union who asked if I wanted to be part of the Health and Safety Committee, and I accepted. Today was a bit of a blur because I'm pretty new to the public service and I was still trying to wrap my head around all the procedural stuff surrounding committees and motions and resolutions and the like. Still, it was quite interesting, and I'm looking forward to learning more.
I'll be eligible for my "full" pension by today's normal retirement age of 65 (I might even be eligible a year earlier), but the reduction in salary compared to my current earnings, combined with what I assume will be a skyrocketing cost of living means I will likely never be able to afford to live without working. I'm not currently making enough money to pay our bills AND put aside enough money for retirement. I've put away a modest amount of savings, but they likely wouldn't see me through more than a couple of years as a "top-up" to my pension.
Of course, climate change might kills us all in the next decade, rendering this entirely moot. :P
The course was also stultifyingly dull. Your gal is not a fan of maths, and there were so many numbers. So many. The good news is that KK may get to retire and may even get to enjoy her retirement for a bit before the heat death ot the universe.
After the full day of the retirement course I barely had time to pull together a handful of ingredients to get dinner started before it was time for another meeting. A couple of months ago I was approached by someone from my union who asked if I wanted to be part of the Health and Safety Committee, and I accepted. Today was a bit of a blur because I'm pretty new to the public service and I was still trying to wrap my head around all the procedural stuff surrounding committees and motions and resolutions and the like. Still, it was quite interesting, and I'm looking forward to learning more.
