What do to?

For those of us in Canada, there is a great deal of uncertainty about what we can do when we are vaccinated. In the U.S. the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released guidelines on March 8 for fully vaccinated individuals, saying they can safely meet indoors without masks or physically distancing with others who had received both shots.

The CDC also said those who have had both shots can visit with unvaccinated people from a single  household who are at low risk for severe COVID-19, as well as skipping quarantine and testing if exposed to COVID-19 without showing symptoms.

We in Canada are left wondering what they can do after getting vaccinated and if we can safely see our families, other vaccinated people or generally feel less at risk from COVID-19 after a year under strict public health measures.

But the recommendations still haven't been updated leaving many of us tempted to make up our own rules while we are waiting for our Public Health Agencies across Canada to tell us what we can and can't do after being vaccinated.

In Canada, we are waiting four months at least for our second dose, so what are the guidelines for Canadians who have only had one dose?

The science is clear, we are only fully vaccinated after two doses. Does this mean that Canadians will have to continue practicing physical distancing, proper hand hygiene, avoiding crowds and wearing masks in public?

There is some science that says you are “still at risk even though you're fully vaccinated," says Kelvin, who is also evaluating Canadian vaccines with the VIDO-InterVac lab in Saskatoon. He goes on to say that “even with two doses, you can still be infected and transmit the virus — you just might not be as ill as somebody who wasn't vaccinated.”

So, currently, it appears that we, in Canada, needs to continue to follow the strict rules we have been under for a year, but with some loosing of a few restrictions. The sooner we can get the second does, the faster we get back to near normal.

Scrooge changed, can you?

Retired or thinking of it than planning is a key to a successful retirement. If you are retiring it means you have been working, and for many, we carry around an equation that says, my job or my ability at my job is equivalent to my worth. This is not true; your worth derives from your human qualities of kindness and thoughtfulness and your vulnerabilities.

One of the first steps to take when planning your retirement is to free yourself of the equation and look at your worth as it saw based on your kindness, thoughtfulness, and vulnerabilities.

No matter how deep-rooted these experiences and feelings are, you can free yourselves from thinking that you are not enough. This may take a while to happen so you should be patient.

Remember when you are retired time is yours and the schedule of what you do is yours. So, do what makes you, not others, happy.

Here is a way to start, think about the last time you did something not because it’s going to show up on your resume, but just because you enjoyed it? Remember that activity and the feeling you had of being in the flow of doing what you love.

Recognize that you have value, you are not defined by your skills or your job. In retirement, your goal should be to go out and achieve much. You have the time to do what is important to you and when you do, you are going to do your best.

When you meet someone new and you are retired, some of us find it awkward, (especially those who are newly retired) to know what to say. Here is a hint if you are asked what you do, share something that you cherish about yourself; try to break interpersonal ground with them and not start with labels.

You are retired and should not be looking to compete with others. So, when your friends, family and neighbours have success, respond with love and acceptance to the successes and respond with support when they fail.

Remember that a person is not a product and we need a culture that delineates the two and helps us see that one does not define the other.

Wouldn’t you like the most important people in your life — young or old — to feel like they are enough? By appreciating them and showing that your care for them is unconditional, you can create change that will ripple outwards and by doing this you are building a legacy that will be remembered. Remember even Scrooge became a changed man overnight and you can change as well.

Inflation and planning your retirement

While the equity markets surge and investors breathe a sigh of relief after a stressful 12 months, we may be hurtling towards a retirement crisis.

As we know our Canada Pension Plan is sustainable and I believe that while pensions will continue to do their job and payout, the real question you must consider is what that money can buy you when the time comes to slide away from working life.

If you have a pension plan, you will be paid by their pensions, whether they are the defined contribution plans or the registered savings plans that are going to be converted to RRIFs. That is not the problem. The problem will be: what will we be able to purchase with that cash flow stream?

For example, according to the inflation calculator of the Bank of Canada, a "basket" of goods and services ...that cost: $100.00 in 2006 ...would cost $128.61 in 2021.

This means that in the 15 years since I retired, I would need $128.61 to buy what I could for $100 when I retired.

That means that over the past 15 years, there has been a 28.61 percent negative change in my purchasing power.

What does this mean, for me, that for me to keep the same standard of purchasing power I had when I first retired, I need to have my pension and investments growing at the same rate. This means over the last 15 years I would have to have at least the same amount of growth in my investments and pensions, higher than the rate of inflation to have the same purchasing power I did in 2006. I have been able to do this because I have a good investment counsellor who I listen to and who I trust to guide me.

When we are planning our pension, we must think seriously about inflation and what we need to do to protect ourselves over time. My advice is to talk to your investment broker and ask some questions about the performance of your portfolio over the long term.

Should workers have access to Pension Plans?

A recent report, “Americans’ Views Of State & Local Employee Retirement Plans,” surveyed over 1,200 adults in December 2020.

“The past several decades has seen dramatic changes to the U.S. retirement system that has undermined retirement for large portions of the U.S. workforce,” authors Dan Doonan and Kelly Kenneally wrote in the report. “Much of the workforce lacks an employer-sponsored retirement plan, fewer workers have stable and secure defined benefit pensions, while 401(k)-style defined contribution individual accounts shift costs and risks to workers and typically lack lifetime income that pools longevity risks.”

Citing research from the U.S. Census Bureau, National Institute on Retirement Security found that pensions provided an average benefit payment of $2,335 per month in 2018 to over 11 million retirees and beneficiaries.

Doonan and Kenneally noted that public sector pensions were able to withstand much of the volatility caused by the pandemic in 2020. Public pension assets as of the third quarter had doubled since 2009 to $4.78 trillion, “all while reliably pumping hundreds of billions of dollars annually into the economy,” they noted.

Unlike other public benefit programs, like Medicare for All, support for expanding access to pensions held across party lines. Roughly eight out of 10 respondents from all parties supported pensions for all, including 75% of Republicans and 80% of Democrats.

Over three-quarters — 77% — of Americans believe that all workers should have access to a pension plan, according to research from the National Institute on Retirement Security. Two-thirds feel that pensions promise a more secure retirement than the ubiquitous 401(k) plan.

Americans’ support for pensions isn’t surprising considering the current state of retirement insecurity. More than two-thirds of respondents believe the country is facing a retirement crisis, and 56% are worried about their own prospects for financial uncertainty in retirement.

In the post-pandemic era, with the nature of work dramatically shifting as employers adjust to increased demand for hybrid workforces amid recovering unemployment, pensions provide employers with valuable tools to attract and retain workers.

 Two sectors in particular — teachers and public safety workers — face challenges maintaining their workforce because of the pandemic. NIRS found job satisfaction among teachers dropped dramatically between March 2020 and October 2020 (from 69% to 44%), while 48% of public sector workers, in general, said they were taking bigger risks at work than their pay justified.

 The report found broad support for providing pensions for teachers, with 69% of respondents saying they should have a pension plan to compensate for their low wages. Respondents were even more supportive (76%) of providing pensions for people in high-risk or physically demanding jobs.

 However, advocates for defined contribution plans are still calling for replacing public employees’ pensions with 401(k)-style plans, “even though the same benefits cost nearly twice as much due to their inherent economic inefficiency, and despite the evidence that this change fails to reduce costs to taxpayers and undermines the public sector workforce where the career model of employment is still enjoyed in our communities,” the authors wrote.