A recent survey by Pollara, a Canadian public opinion and market research firm, found that there were three main life events that Canadians worry about the most, The first is saving enough money for retirement: men: 41 percent; women: 28 percent said they were worried.
The second event
is the health of their partner. 23 percent and 32 percent of women were worried
about the long-term health of their partner.
The third
event that weighed heavily was the concern about job loss or your
spouse/partner’s job loss? 33 percent of men and 19 percent of women had this
worry.
The good
news is that most Canadians know the value of having a financial plan, however, sometimes the plan targets are set too low. Your plan should be able to
withstand a major decline in the market or have a fallback strategy to account
for major life events such as death, divorce, or a major disability/illness.
These are
the three “Ds” to stress test your portfolio, disability, death, or divorce
A disability
or illness could have a huge impact on your long-term financial plans. Often
times people are forced to retire earlier than they had planned to cause a loss
of future income and impact to their savings strategy
Divorce is the third item that can blow up your financial plan, typically having a double shock effect of unplanned spending and loss of income. In Canada, the only age group that is seeing a rise in divorce rates are people over 50, now referred to as the “grey divorce group.”
There are, of course, many other events that could have significant financial impacts on a family. Career failure, bankruptcy, whatever life throws at you; try to reduce the monetary distress by proactively planning. Don’t dwell on things you can’t change, focus on the things you can, and never become a slave to your self-doubt.
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