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Avoiding The Risk Of A Long And Healthy Life
There are many different risks when it comes to retirement, investment risk, inflation rate risk, spending risk, but one risk that isn’t talked about very often is the risk of living a long and healthy life. It may seem odd to call this a risk, but from a financial planning perspective, a long and health retirement can dramatically increase the risk of running out of money in the future.
According to the guidelines from the Financial Planning Standards Council of Canada, for a couple who is currently 55, there is a 25% chance that either partner in a couple will live to age 98 and there is a 10% chance that either will live to age 101.
Living a long and healthy life isn’t some obscure risk… for pre-retirees the chance of living into their mid 90’s is around 25%!
This risk becomes even greater for those aiming for early retirement in their 50’s or even 40’s. Retiring at age 55 could mean a 43+year retirement period for 1 in 4 couples and a 46+ year retirement period for 1 in 10 couples.
With such a long retirement period, and such a high possibility of reaching age 90+, we want to ensure that we’re taking steps within our financial plans to avoid the risk of a long life.
There are a few things that anyone can do to avoid this risk…
How To Build a GIC Ladder Into Your Portfolio
With interest rates higher, GICs have become more attractive as an investment option and a 5-year GIC ladder can be a great addition to your portfolio. GICs can be considered part of your fixed-income allocation and in some cases GICs can even outperform bonds of equal length.
If you’re adding GICs to your investment portfolio then you’ll want to consider building a GIC ladder. A GIC ladder is a common way to invest in GICs.
When investing in GICs, a GIC ladder can help take advantage of the benefits of GICs while reducing the downsides.
GICs are typically locked in for a specific term. This could be shorter-term like 90-days or longer-term like 1-year, 2-years, 3-years, 4-years, 5-years etc.
Laddering GICs will help take advantage of longer-term GIC rates while also improving liquidity with some shorter-term GICs.
When a GIC ladder is working well, there will always be at least one GIC maturing every year which can then be used to purchase a new longer-term GIC. Here’s why you may want to set up a GIC ladder and how to do it…
Should You Add GICs To Your Investment Portfolio?
For 10+ years interest rates were at historic lows and investing with GICs was less attractive. But now interest rates are higher and adding GICs to your investment portfolio has become much more attractive.
If you don’t have GICs in your investment portfolio, then you may want to consider including some within your fixed-income asset allocation.
GICs (Guaranteed Investment Certificates) are a type of fixed-income investment. They’re extremely safe and in most cases are fully insured by the CDIC (Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation) up to $100,000 per financial institution.
GICs are guaranteed. They’re like a savings account but with a higher interest rate. GICs are often locked in for a specific term. Terms can be as short as 30-days and as long as 10-years. But most GICs have terms of 1-year, 2-years, 3-years, 4-years, and 5-years.
Adding GICs to your investment portfolio can be very easy. It’s possible to buy GICs from many financial institutions directly OR to buy GICs through your brokerage account.
With interest rates higher, investing with GICs has become more attractive, and in some cases, GICs can even perform better than bonds!