Retirement: To Debt or Not to Debt?
I recently wrote about a new study conducted for RBC that revealed that four-in-10 Canadians over the age of 50 retired with debt and continue to apply for credit to augment their retirement.
Another recent survey released by the Investors Group also showed similar results with 62 per cent of respondents planning to carry debt, including a mortgage, into retirement.
Jonathan Chevreau over at the Financial Post finds this outrageous, wondering whatever happened to the financial guideline that debt should be retired before you are. He goes on to say that, ‘[t]he bottom line is if you’re still in debt, you have no business retiring”.
Meanwhile, the head of retirement at RBC believes that retirement is more complicated for Boomers than it was for the previous generation, citing delayed parenthood, divorce and remarriage, amongst other factors.
Is it really possible to retire without debt these days?
