montreal mike

conspicuous by its absence is the financial meltdown and what it has done to our finances, investments, and retirement prospects

does any one care to comment without providing personal details of course

dazzlerdaz

I will say that the UK- Canada exchange rate has taken its toll on the savings i brought over !
Thats about it for me though

Tangram

I mentioned in another thread about my RRSP which was transferred from a UK company final salary scheme in the UK a mere few weeks before Meltdown day.... the less said the better on that one.

Yoong

I have to delay my Freedom 55 retirement this year
Dividend cuts from oil/gas royalty trusts whereas the banks
remain the same.Overall portfolios have a bad hair cut,as long as
they are coughing out some dividends , I am glad to receive them.

Lifestyle still the same,that is frugal living and grow my own veggies
in the summer.

Yoong

BristolUK

Like many people I kept a few thou in the UK for the better interest rates only to see the value drop with the worsening exchange rate. It's all here now, so just wait to see the rate improve.

I've also lost around $100 a month in the two years since I began receiving my CS Pension for the same reason.

The many deals in the supermarket flyers make coping quite easy.

montreal mike

My mutual funds have taken quite a hit. They were heavy in financials and energy stocks. I am down some 20% as compared to December 2007 but when i think of the original cost I am still doing quite nicely. Thank The Lord it was a loss on paper and not actually realised. I feel sorry for anyone that was forced to liquidate though.

Piff Poff

We luckily changed my husbands mutual funds from moderate aggressive to conservative before the BIG meltdown, he had a loss and a gain and a loss and a loss, so after a couple of years he had what he started with. He has had some rather bigger losses since so thank god it was conservative investing. Mine as it was a much smaller amount we decided to keep moderate aggresive and decided not to get to upset if I get big losses on it, so far it's not been too scary and I still have some investments.

My BIG worry now is that we will eventually see our investments climb to a nice rounded figure as we approach retirement age and think we will have a wonderful retirement only to see a meltdown again

Another thing, my Dad (in the UK) has always had a nice retirement - took early retirement/redundancy at 55 and has pottered about with his wife doing a bit of this and that to bring some money in. Being able to afford the nice lifestyle, no money worries. I have only just in the last year or so been on 'proper' comunication terms with him, so invited him out here. He has replied that money is a little at the moment but hopefully things will begin to improve. He is 78. He shouldn't have to worry about money at his age.

montreal mike

Problem is that people are no longer outliving their money. Years ago retirement was relatively simple as life expectancy was such that one pretty well had enough to live on. Now we are in a global recession, alas people are living longer, and the price of food has gone through the roof. Not a very pleasant prospect for old age pensioners.

Piff Poff

My Dad got a VERY good package, plus he had a pension, plus he had the profits from a house sale that at least quadrupled from the original purchase price - in other words, he should be minted in his retirement and as his parents lived until well into their late nineties, he would have planned for that himself. It's just shocked me that the one parent I thought had got things completely right, hasn't. What hope is there for me?????

montreal mike

Well that is good news -- on the surface at least.

However, if he retired some 13 years ago, or more, things have become awfully expensive, especially in the UK. I was there for 6 months some ten years ago and could not figure out how people could manage on their salaries.

Piff Poff

Yeah well for all I know in the years where our communications have been sporadic to say the least he may well have been living the high life and spending as much of my potential inheritance as possible - and good luck to him if he has. It's just sad to hear him say that maybe if they sell a bit of artwork (new hobby) that they have in a couple of galleries they may have enough for a jaunt over here. I suppose I could offer yet another family member help with flights.

montreal mike

inheritance? maybe it is the cynic in me but figure you are on your own. This way no nasty surprises.

Piff Poff

I thought that fact came across in my reply! I don't expect or even want an inheritance - I want them to spend spend spend!

montreal mike

No it didn't quite come across that clearly to me but it is healthy attitude.. you stand on your own two feet.

Piff Poff

Hmmm that's also what I'm trying to teach my kid. My Mum also knows that when the time comes - it's a retirement home - she's not comming here I've also told my daughter that, I won't burden myself on her when I'm old and senile.