Hi
Thanks for all the comments. Does make me think that we could be somewhat more frugal in our spending. But on the surface we really don't live all that extravagantly.
I went from ~18% savings [basically RRSP maxing only] to 50%+ savings starting in late-2014 when I found this site. I my 2013 self would have said the exact same thing...for a professional at my age [just about to hit 50] I was not living or spending lavishly. And that statement would have been true. But, once I looked at when and how I would like to retire I realized I was not on a track to be able to make that happen. So either I kept spending like I was and retired later on less or I changed my spending and invested more.
I'm not one to suffer or deprive myself in awful ways to reduce spending. All I did was start with my main spending categories and look for ways to reduce costs without changing the quality of my life. It was easy to drop my monthly spending by hundreds of dollars just by being a little more disciplined and thoughtful with my spending. It took several rounds of going through parts of my life and reducing costs and then living with the new reality for a while. Then going back and optimizing again to get where I am today.
I've more than doubled my savings rate and my lifestyle and enjoyment levels are not different than they were in 2013/14. More importantly my net worth has increased 260% since late-2014 and I am on track to retire somewhere between 50-52. Back in 2014 retirement was some fuzzy goal with an uncertain date and lifestyle. I am by no means living some super frugal barebones lifestyle. I do lots of traveling, I have some expensive sports gear, nice clothes, fancy-ish vehicles, live in a $500K+ house and we drink beer/wine and eat great food.
So what I would say to you is define very clearly what your retirement goals are [when, how much annual spend, what do you want to do, etc...] then plan out how your current situation will play out for those plans with your home equity, pension, CPP & OAS. If everything lines up well and you are headed for the retirement you want than you don't have to do anything at all if you are happy with your current life. OTOH if you won't get to where you want to be for retirement on your current trajectory it's time to make some changes.
I'll just emphasize.."some" changes. You don't have to go nuts on the frugal saver bandwagon [unless you want to]. All you have to do is figure out what it will take to get from your current trajectory for retirement to the one you want. Perhaps you do the math and you would like to be able to spend $500/month more at 65 than your current situation will allow. No problem.
- $500/month x 12 months = $6,000/year
- $6,000/year at 4% withdrawal = $150,000 saved and invested
- starting with that $15,000 you have and saving $500/month in 15yrs at 7% after inflation you'll have around $105,000 at retirement so not quite enough
- starting with that $15,000 you have and saving $750/month in 15yrs at 7% after inflation you'll have around $150,000 at retirement
Now you have a rough plan. You have $500/month already you can save/invest and you have to find $250/month more to reach your target. You'll have to trust us that at a $200K/yr income level you'll be able to save that extra $250/month with nearly no discernible change to your happiness or lifestyle. You don't have to do anything further. Maybe you'll save that $250/yr and think "...Hmmm....that was easy and painless...I wonder what saving an extra $500/month feels/looks like?" And you may start down a road that let's you retire at 60 instead of 65. That's not a bad option to have, but it's totally optional.
The only thing you can't do right now if you are a thoughtful, intelligent, responsible 50 year old adult is not have a clear retirement plan that you are confident will deliver the experience you want.