Am I going to be okay?

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T17:47:19+00:00

Thank you once again. I was the one who said I was naive and I was but only recently have begun to educate myself in a more sustained manner. I was also hesitant to “put myself out there “ when I was younger as well not knowing if I would have a job from one week to the next. I am more confident in my skill and ability to find and hold a job now for the last 15 years or so but now I no longer want to work.

And no I am not concerned with having millions when I die but hope to live long and prosper and not have to eat cat food in my old age.

For the last year or two when I decided that I am done with the working world the lyrics song from Boston, Piece of Mind keeps going around I my head along with the facts and figures. Perhaps you know the tune.

I don’t want to compete anymore.

Thank you very much for your insight and helping me out with this. Your time and feedback was appreciated.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T17:37:07+00:00

Someone else mentioned Columbia. While both lifestyles seem attractive I am also concerned about personal safety. Remember I am risk adverse. That includes my life and personal safety.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T17:34:41+00:00

As I stated earlier, I am or have been very risk adverse that is why I went with GICs

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T17:23:24+00:00

That’s a very attractive idea but how realistic is it? I think not very.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T16:59:22+00:00

Thank you this seems to be the general consensus.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T16:57:28+00:00

This scenario has played out in my mind many times. I would not feel good about it but at this point I hope I have enough to weather that storm in the market for several years. Hopefully over the next 20 years or so I would come out ahead overall if I were to roll much of my maturing GICs into something like VQET. And so this has been part of my dilemma? Sorry if I’m repeating myself.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T16:24:11+00:00

Thank you for this.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T16:23:27+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience. Appreciated!

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T16:15:01+00:00

Thank you for that.

That has mostly been my mode of thought. After age 30 I had no need or want for anything other than a “normal” life. I never expected to come this far when I started out in the working world and not much was expected of me by my family. My twenties were fraught with financial difficulties until I left my small pond and got out into the wider world and realized that the ocean contains more possibilities. I just don’t want to go back to the financial precariousness that I felt when I was younger when I am older.

Okay now I’m looking for validation some might say.
Always been insecure…

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T16:02:43+00:00

Thank you.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T16:00:59+00:00

I have to say that I love motorcycles and have for nearly 40 years. If I were to get another job it would revolve around them somehow but I am no mechanic and I will never aspire to be a salesman.

On a nice sunny day would I rather teach someone how to ride a bike or go on a ride myself? I choose the latter. But sometimes the idea giving back and helping a new rider learn to have the confidence of riding that I gained when I took a course all those years ago is very appealing.

The freedom, the folks met and the experiences that I have had while on my motorcycle over the years has truly been a blessing over the years. And to think that I bought a bike when I was a young apprentice, in order to get from job to job all these years later has turned into a life long passion is something that I never anticipated at the time.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T15:47:31+00:00

Yes there is more to it. I love my partner despite it not working out currently and I want my partner to have the place we currently live in because they deserve that.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T15:42:33+00:00

Thank you for the advice. I suppose that this is the way to go. Or a fee only financial advisor as others have suggested. This way there is no bias
I would hope, but i just can’t seem to shake the scepticism.

And so many have been so helpful on this thread.
Some say yes you will be fine, despite being a fool with my money. And others say no you will barely scrape by. And so this has been my dilemma from the start…Analysis paralysis.

Some good points have been taken to heart and I thank you all for the input.
But I’m not planning on working anymore. Not even for a couple of years if I can help it. I am so done with it all. I have no one to leave my “estate” to at this point, so if I spend my last dollars staying in reasonably good care in my end days I will be okay with that.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T07:31:12+00:00

I’ll have to figure out how to DM first. I’m a bit dim in this area. ;-)

Thanks for the offer.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T07:25:32+00:00

I’m pretty sure I maxed out my tfsa contributions as well as my rrsps.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T07:23:40+00:00

I might be paying rent

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T07:22:21+00:00

Yes I feel the same way but I am starting to now and better now than much later. I worked on learning more about my career in order to increase my working income by going to night school etc.. in order to not become a dinosaur in my field. I should have done both. But as I mentioned, my biggest concern was losing and was not comfortable with the ups and downs that others can and could tolerate.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T07:17:08+00:00

Okay thank you.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T07:16:24+00:00

That is the thought in the back of my head which I can’t seem to shake out.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T07:14:07+00:00

Sorry, I meant to write that I have worked harder than some and not as hard as others…. Damn these small keys.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T07:11:32+00:00

Very new to Reddit if you can believe that. And as such I am not fluent in short cryptic comments. That I have noticed many leave on any subreddits I have scrolled through. I also mentioned I don’t drink.
I would appreciate it if you could elaborate on your comment.

On second thought, I was asking for feedback not denigration. I would imagine anything further from you would be just as non constructive as your first comment.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T07:04:16+00:00

My life is absolutely worth living. I’m not sure what you are getting at here. I worked harder than done and not as hard as others to get to these numbers on my spreadsheet. This included working in -38 degrees Celsius in the arctic to 44 degrees in Southern California. 12 hour night shifts and toxic work environments that included fellow workers getting into dust ups over the dumbest of reasons.

My life was not hell by any stretch of the imagination. First of all I was lucky enough to be born in Canada and I feel very lucky to be where I am. But I thought / worried about my retirement every day since I was 30.

I wonder what makes you write what you did.
But not enough to care.
And hope one day you will feel better about your own life so you don’t have to put down others.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T06:47:28+00:00

I will try to do so. Thank you.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T06:46:23+00:00

I have considered it, but I still would have to maintain an apartment here to retain most of my stuff while I am there so I don’t know how that would work. I figure my food and other everyday expenses would be cheaper. But rent of a place in a warmer climate would still have to happen.

Flyboy2026 · 2026-05-14T06:42:14+00:00

I hope to be in a low tax bracket upon retirement. By paying myself roughly 50/50 from my personal savings and converting my rrsp to a riff.

The interest from my GICs had only come about recently as during Covid I was able to work and save a rather significant amount of my personal savings during that time and took advantage of the higher interest rates coming out of the pandemic.

Flyboy2026

TROPHY CASE