Originally Posted by Hangman

Your reality is very much different than mine.

Tell me more about this maximum pension thing, Ive not heard of any maximum being placed on pensions.

Unless you are speaking only of CPP and OAP.

Originally Posted by iaink

RRSP contribution max out too at 20% percent of income and a five digit dollar number I dont remember and havent had the oportunity to get close to.

Exact numbers may be off, but you get the idea. Tax sheltering is limited.

Originally Posted by TrishB

Get a grip on yourself! Do you really need 4500 sq ft of house???? No wonder your taxes are so high. Your heating costs must be huge too!
Simple way to save loadsadosh - move to a smaller place!

Originally Posted by Liana

Well where are you all living - I live in one of the most modest cities in Canada -if you live in any of the major cities then you will have very expensive housing too. And we can't afford to stay in a house this size; are you not aware that their are pension regulations here in Canada also and there are maximum pensions available unless your company sets up secondary pension funds to give you a bigger pension. Check out www.mls.ca and see what property prices are. Like most older people we will have to downsize when we retire and maybe we will have enough to buy a 2 bedroom apartment in a retirement comminity in Sussex but there aren't a great deal of such communities here in Canada - two retirement communities in Toronto that I know of charge $5000 a month rent - ok, great services, like restaurants and gym etc but no purchasing available and cleaning snow off the drive and sidewalk is a pain in the neck when you get older and retirement communities or condos good places to be. Still trying to stay on thread about misconception. :)

Originally Posted by Tuppence

Well I would hope that some of your $1m house is equity, and that you could buy something outright (from the literally thousands of properties I saw on MLS for less than $500k around Toronto) when you retire. In fact MLS kept telling me to revise my search because there were more than 500 properties and it couldn't display them all. Why couldn't you buy a managed retirement condo? There are loads of them???

Originally Posted by Liana

Er -why do I need a grip on myself? We can afford this now but not as retirees. I posted before my property is three floors and it is an R2000 home. Doesn't anyone else have one of those here in Canada. Heating/hot water bills last year were $3000 - large historic houses in my neighbourhood have heating bills of $10-12,000 a year because they are not well insulated nor do they have the argon filled E windows. So what are heating bills in, say, Toronto anyone? It is cheaper to live in a warmer climate as a retiree - salaries here pay for everything, but not pensions. Maybe you are all young people :)

Originally Posted by mjanovitz

Hi Tuppence,

not spoke to u for ages....hope you are well.

Mark

Originally Posted by Liana

Er -why do I need a grip on myself? We can afford this now but not as retirees. I posted before my property is three floors and it is an R2000 home. Doesn't anyone else have one of those here in Canada. Heating/hot water bills last year were $3000 - large historic houses in my neighbourhood have heating bills of $10-12,000 a year because they are not well insulated nor do they have the argon filled E windows. So what are heating bills in, say, Toronto anyone? It is cheaper to live in a warmer climate as a retiree - salaries here pay for everything, but not pensions. Maybe you are all young people :)

Originally Posted by Hangman

I am sure there are many people with R2000 homes

Originally Posted by Investor

Can someone tell me what R2000 is?

Originally Posted by Liana

So what are heating bills in, say, Toronto anyone?

Originally Posted by sysclp

Look back about 5 or 6 posts, I put my details from the GTA there.

Originally Posted by iaink

I think you need to do more homework on "Adult lifestlye communities", as I can think of at least two within a stones throw of here, and we are 2h from Toronto.

AFAIK its always been possible to pay someone else a nominal amount to clear snow for you, no matter where you live. Perhaps you could spend a small portion of what you save from your ludicrous taxes when you downsize on that?

Originally Posted by Liana

Which communities are those- thanks? We already have snow clearers and it is about $200-$300 a month based on the amount of snow which again is another expense that older people find too much. Here sidewalks have to be cleared legally, within 24 hours of the snowfall, not like Toronto I believe. When we lived in Calgary we did not have sidewalks and it doesn't snow very much in Vancouver so it is not an extra expense there either.

Originally Posted by Tuppence

Well I would hope that some of your $1m house is equity, and that you could buy something outright (from the literally thousands of properties I saw on MLS for less than $500k around Toronto) when you retire. In fact MLS kept telling me to revise my search because there were more than 500 properties and it couldn't display them all. Why couldn't you buy a managed retirement condo? There are loads of them???