I have just read the column “You can probably spend more in retirement” written by Mr. Fred Vettese in The Globe And Mail.
Again, I want to point out the health of retirees is ignored when drawing these conclusions. And that most, if not all of these writers, have no experience dealing with real live people. How many of them have been educated to sit across a table from a real life person, trying to decide what to do and how to proceed? So how do they know what retirees really need?
The majority of retirees by far, do not need “sophisticated spreadsheets” about how to guarantee them an income for life. Most will go into a stock market-type RRIF or an annuity at retirement. And when they are fed up with stock market uncertainty and want their monthly income guaranteed, they move to an annuity.
Now they are guaranteed an income however long they live. You cannot assume that people are capable of making rational economic decisions later in life. It is just not true.
My experience tells me that at retirement, people want security. For retirees it is a question of protecting their lifestyle, not saving or making money.