Todd Warnock/DigitalVision via Getty Images Co-authored by Treading Softly In my grandparents and parents' generations, the logic that played out for planning for retirement was pretty simple. They would work for decades, showing loyalty to a company, which would then pay them a pension so they would enjoy the rest of their retirement. This pension, along with the government retirement plan from the Social Security Administration or the Canada Pension Plan, would provide an additional boost of income.
Last of all, they would have their home, which often they would sell when they downsized to unlock the equity to support their retirement. For many retirees of their generation, their home was the single largest investment that they had ever made. As time progressed, many in that generation discovered the hard truth that having your home be your largest investment could potentially be a very dangerous one.
When the housing markets collapsed during the Great Financial Crisis, we saw thousands upon thousands of soon-to-be retirees suddenly hit with the reality that their retirement was going to be much less funded than they expected. As the decades marched on, we've seen that pension plans have largely disappeared and were replaced by the 401(k) or RRSP or other opportunities to invest for your retirement without guaranteed payments from your employer. In my generation, many individuals are quite confused—should we focus on this daily grind and work hard to stash money away in o.
