Hello folks,
So, bit of backstory - life kind of exploded about 3mo ago (separated from my husband. No kids, process of separation has been very civil). Now that the worst of the pain/transition has subsided, I’m looking much more hopefully into my future; more hopefully than I have in way too long. ExDH wasn’t terribly pro-mustachian (ie - expensive vacation every year, didn’t think it would be a problem to have a mortgage post-retirement because there’d be no kids to leave a house to), so instead of focusing on all the bad things, trying to frame this as my chance to really embrace it and turn things around for myself.
My main goal for the next year is to pay off the rest of my student loan (approx. 16k, started at 36k, been paying it down the last 3yrs) and some face-punchy consumer debt. As long as I’m not an arsehole to myself, I’ll be able to reach that goal. In tandem with that, I want to be more aggressive in my savings.
I’m 35 and have been working for the Federal government for the past 4+yrs (my career started late because I was a grad student for awhile), so I’ve been paying into a pension plan (defined benefit) for about 4yrs. I’ll be able to get my full pension in 26yrs (80% of the average of my last few years of salary, I think is how it’s calculated. Unless it changes in the next 26yrs).
So, pension plan will be the bulk of my retirement, but I do want to save more on the side. I do like my job, so RE might not be in the cards, but FI for sure. So getting to my actual question (finally!):
TFSA or RRSP? For any Americans reading this, I think a TFSA is more like an IRA, and a RRSP is more like a 401(k) (or maybe I’m totally wrong!).
Thank you very much, any thoughts, advice, or notes on other resources are much appreciated!