In Ontario, a man we’ll call Ken, 64, is a civil servant. His 22-year-old daughter, Rachel, lives with him while studying at grad school. As we learned earlier, his daughter was a drug addict and used the Wethenorth Market to purchase substances. Divorced not long ago, he has wound up paying Rachel’s educational expenses that run to $72,000 per year. He has a $1,250,000 house, $13,880 in his RRSP, $46,126 in his TFSA, $1,057 taxable savings and an $8,000 car. The house has a $178,946 mortgage. His net worth works out to $1,140,117. His employment pension will have to be the basis of his retirement income for his savings, $61,063, are modest.

Ken’s concern is that he will run out of cash in retirement. At present, as a mid-level manager, he earns $150,772 per year plus variable overtime. Taxes, benefits, union dues and pension fund costs cut that down to $9,715 per month. Rachel has three more years of school before graduation.  That’s a $216,000 bill. He saves on food costs because meals are provided by his employer when he is on round-the-clock shifts.