The final five years before retirement are when a household should turn accumulated savings, pensions, and benefits into a coordinated income plan with clear decisions, deadlines, and responsibilities.
A portfolio and a long-term projection are important parts of retirement planning, but neither replaces a practical plan for after-tax income, tax coordination, survivor readiness, and implementation.
A retirement cash reserve should reflect the spending your portfolio must fund, not an arbitrary percentage of your investments. This framework helps determine the amount, timing and account location.
Read the August 2026 Market Commentary covering the Bank of Canada's sixth consecutive rate hold, U.S. GDP strength versus Canada's per capita slippage, and the longer-term outlook amid geopolitical tension in the Middle East.
A $2.4 million portfolio can look reassuring, but whether it supports a $140,000 retirement lifestyle depends on income sources, tax, spending flexibility, and the order of market returns.
For households that have saved well, the challenge is not always avoiding a shortfall. It may be deciding how much wealth is needed for security, how much can be used now, and how to plan deliberately for assets likely to remain.
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