Cashflow and Portfolios Retirement Projections Review

Sure, accumulating and building wealth can be fun and addictive. As you see your investment portfolio grow and see compounding work magic on your retirement nest egg, you may wonder though, what happens when I start withdrawing money from my portfolio? Will I run out? When should I actually start withdrawing money from my investment portfolio? Here is a detailed Cashflow and Portfolios Retirement Projections Review to help you with these burning questions.

If you’ve ever wondered how much you will need to withdraw from your portfolio, for example, to prevent mandatory RRIF withdrawals and OAS clawback, a new product called the Retirement Projections Report may be useful for you.

Cashflow and Portfolios Retirement Projection Review

This review will go over why a retirement projection might be useful for you, what retirement calculators in Canada currently exist (there is a paucity), what the Cashflow and Portfolios Retirement projection is all about and what it looks like.

Why Is a Retirement Projection Helpful?

Those of you interested in Canadian personal finance and wealth building are probably pretty adept by now with the accumulation phase of financial independence. It boils down to straightforward steps such as spend less than you earn, avoid lifestyle inflation, and invest the rest with a dollar cost averaging strategy (if that works for you) in low cost index funds or dividend growth stocks.

Basic questions like how much you should have saved by 35 or how much you should have saved by 40 to retire by 65 are simple enough to estimate.

However, when it comes to the retirement drawdown phase of financial independence retire early and considerations related to a sustainable portfolio (will it last?), you might feel a little more uneasy about what the next steps are.

Some of my own questions are how to be most tax efficient so that you don’t get your OAS completely clawed away (if it still exists at that time for Canadians), and how much can you reasonably withdraw from your portfolio without running out of money.

If you know that the 4% withdrawal rate won’t work for you, and you have any concerns about the longevity of your portfolio, what would your retirement projections look like?

Psychologically it doesn’t feel good not seeing your retirement nest egg growing and instead you see it shrinking (I know I felt this way when I had limited parental leave income). It would be beneficial to calculate projections on different drawdown scenarios so as to preserve your wealth from too much of the CRA’s grip and from estate taxes.

Retirement Calculators in Canada

Currently there are limited retirement calculators in Canada, the information they share with you help you indicate whether you are on track for retirement without factoring important individual things like OAS, or CPP, or defined benefit pension even.

After diligently inputting your current numbers such as the balance of your TFSA, RRSP, and non-registered accounts, you just get a blanket statement like “yes you are on track for retirement by age 50” without much guidance on exactly HOW to drawdown your portfolio or how much to take out each year.

This is where the comprehensive Cashflow and Portfolio Retirement Projections come in.

Cashflow and Portfolios Retirement Projections

Cashflow and Portfolios is a new Canadian personal finance blog founded by familiar faces, Mark from My Own Advisor and Joe from Million Dollar Journey (the OG Canadian personal finance blog fame who achieved an impressive million dollar net worth at 36).

They are both in their 40’s and manage 7 figures of their own investment portfolio…so essentially, they are eating their own cooking and essentially, ‘walk the talk’.

Mark and Joe created Cashflows & Portfolios since they wanted to develop a site geared towards aspiring or current Do-It-Yourself (DIY) investors, with the beginning to end in mind.

That DIY investing journey boils down to how to understand and manage your cash flow; how best to invest that cash flow for wealth building, then onto using that nest egg to fund the next phase of your life – whether it is early retirement or retirement at a traditional age.

They also wanted to share their knowledge about retirement drawdown plans. So beyond their free case studies you can read on their site – this is where their Cashflows & Portfolios Retirement Projections services come in. With their services, you can get your personalized, unique, individual, and customized retirement projections report so you can know with confidence where you stand with your retirement income plans.

The projections reports they deliver to you come from professional financial planning software used in the financial industry, software they use themselves for their own retirement income and cashflow planning needs.

According to Cashflows & Portfolios, most fee-only planners in Canada typically charge between $1,500 and upwards of $8,000 for a detailed, personalized financial plan and investment advice. 

Or to get a financial projection or plan you may be paying an advisor at least 1% of your investment portfolio annually – on a $1,000,000 portfolio that’s $10,000 per year in commissions.

Many DIY investors may feel comfortable with their investing (plunking your money in an all in one ETF is pretty much a no brainer for 0.25% management fee) but do not feel comfortable with their retirement withdrawal plan. Understandably so because it is more complicated.

There are RRIFs, OAS, CPP to factor in and our frenemy, taxes!

With the Cashflows & Portfolios site and services, Mark and Joe take your inputs, your assumptions, and run the retirement projections report with scenarios for you in a succinct PDF.

As DIY investors, Mark and Joe do not (and will not) offer any financial advice.

Instead, just like their blogs such as My Own Advisor for the last 11+ years or on the new Cashflows & Portfolios site – they offer their personal take and experiences. They are happy to share their journey, what’s has worked for them, what they are improving upon, and provide unbiased and unfiltered takes about various financial services or products. A recent example of that is the Longevity Pension Fund that you can read about here.

What I really like about their service is that they take your personalized questions and concerns about retirement and provide answers for you from trusted sources. Their work costs a fraction of what some financial plans cost (with advice) because their only concern is an accurate, relevant report with your information – not charging for advice, not chasing your assets under management, nor charging you additional fees for extra work.

After you get your personal report, you can then use that information as a guide for any additional retirement planning, like estate planning.

Cashflow and Portfolios Membership Options

How much does Cashflow and Portfolios Retirement Projection Report cost?

For pricing on their services, you can just contact them.

They are happy to outline their report options to you (hint: it is much less than $1,500) and what’s involved including any limitations, such as the reminders about no financial advice. 

I asked them a some questions before my report (like how to avoid OAS clawback and minimize taxes) and they answered everything clearly and promptly.

cashflow and portfolios Retirement Projections Review

Cashflow and Portfolios were kind enough to provide a retirement projections report for me to review their services.

Here’s my review.

Cashflow and Portfolios recommend that you do a Projection with a spouse for more accuracy and calculation of optimized tax opportunities that you can have as a couple, but in this case since we have joint and separate finances, I did my own projection and did not include any of our joint assets.

The on boarding process is straight forward. There was a form that I filled out online (your data is encrypted, and privacy is protected, and your data is not shared with others unless they have your consent).  There is a waiver that reinforces the upcoming report will be for personal educational and illustrative purposes only, and that you could opt out any time.

The questions in the form which included things like:

  • Savings Account Balance
  • Non-Registered Investments Account Balance
  • TFSA Balance (and asset allocation)
  • RRSP Balance (and asset allocation)
  • Liabilities like a mortgage
  • Your intended retirement age
  • The age you plan to take CPP and the estimated amount you will receive

After you complete your form, they will process your data, calculate the projections, and provide a detailed report to you. You will receive your Cashflow and Portfolios Retirement Projections report within 5-10 business days.

The report was 20 pages long for me and they kindly provided a few projections given my ambiguous retirement age.

One projection was to continue my RRSP and TFSA contributions, retire at age 55 and have an estate value of almost $0 when I am 100, basically, live it up and die broke. This scenario is essentially a  maximum spend projection. I was very pleased to see that annually I could spend in the range of $82,000 and $113,000 after-tax! 

Talk about Fat FIRE and a happy retirement!

I am not planning to do that though 😉

Another scenario was to retire at age 48, withdraw from my RRSP first to zero before the mandatory RRIF withdrawal age. This way, I could minimize any potential OAS clawbacks. This scenario showed that my OAS should last until age 98 without being completely clawed back, with a healthy maximum spend per year between $58,000 and $72,000 per year. 

Withdrawing from my non-registered first, then RRSP, then TFSA, results in OAS lasting until age 84 but with a slightly larger estate (due to RRSP compounding longer).

It was very interesting to see the summary of the scenario calcuations.

What I liked about the report was the care taken with any assumptions.

I was worried about what might have been used for future returns or inflation.

It listed assumptions such as the inflation rate, the default rate of return for equities, my age of retirement, CPP start age, and OAS start age in simple tables that were everything I wanted and also aligned with those outlined for 2021 from the FP Canada Standards Council.

Then, the report reviews the net worth in nominal dollars up to age 100.

Net worth in Nominal Dollars

Then there is a report on after tax dollar spending shown in nominal dollars up to age 100.

Since I’m quite a visual person, one of my favourite charts that I find quite useful is the “Sources of Income” page where you can see the current source of income (your current age) and the sources of expected income once you start your retirement (recommended for optimal tax efficiency).

In case you’re wondering about the blanked out area of “Employment Income”, I blocked out my income in the picture below. Sadly, my employment income is not $200,000 and up 😉

For example, drawing down the RRSP would make sense for me if I wanted to retire at age 48 and I want to keep the Old Age Security (or at least get some of it). Then at age 55 my Defined Benefit Pension would kick in, at age 60 CPP would kick in, and age 65, OAS would kick in. All of these would be layered together.

The meat and potatoes of the report is the Cashflow Summary and Income Details section.

First there’s a table of Net Worth Projections with the assumptions of inflation and rate of return on investments.

This was fascinating seeing the numbers and it included the plan of withdrawing the RRSP at age 48 should I want to retire at that age.

Interestingly, (if the TFSA still exists then) I will have a $12,000,000 TFSA when I am 100 in nominal dollars (if I am still alive by then). Wowzers! Haha 🙂

Then, the most valuable part of the Cashflow and Portfolio Projections Report is the Cash Flow Summary.

This ‘blueprint’ tells you how much to withdraw and from what asset to withdraw it from, and how much inflow you have from incomes like CPP, OAS, and a defined benefit pension plan. It also shows you your marginal tax rate and your effective tax rate.

Here’s an example of the cash flow in and outs when I am 80 and 81. The numbers in purple brackets are how much to withdraw.

This is what a full Cash Flow table looks like for a sample projection from Cashflow and Portfolios ending at age 75 (fictional individual).

Another important part of the report is the Income Details. This area shows where your income comes from at a particular age and more importantly the OAS clawback amount and a particular age.

Many retirees are worried about not being eligible for the Old Age Security pension and if you have high enough income, it will be eliminated for the following year.

Here is another example of Income Details from a fictional projection:

Genymoney.ca’s verdict

For a very reasonable price you can get peace of mind and feel empowered knowing the best way to draw down your portfolio in order to preserve your estate (if that’s what you want), maximize government benefits like OAS, and minimize taxes paid.

Also, you can pick the mind of two of the most knowledgeable Canadian personal finance bloggers for their unbiased takes on how they are preparing for early retirement themselves.

That’s priceless!

I think that this is a service that is a great unmet need across Canada for those nearing retirement, planning years in advance of retirement, or even those who are currently in retirement and want to optimize their withdrawals from their retirement portfolio.

This is especially a needed service for those who have a DIY portfolio and DIY invest without access to a fancy financial advisor or financial planner.

When you sign up for a projection service, you also have a 1-year access to the Member’s Forum they created where you can ask financial questions, ask about new products, or get a personalized take from Mark and Joe about anything.

Finally, they have a 100% no-risk money back guarantee without a time limit, so if for any reason you are not satisfied, you can get your money back.

What If Something Changes WIth your Financial Situation?

The founders of Cashflow and Portfolios believe that an updated report is helpful if there are significant changes to your financial situation, like an unanticipated inheritance or a large purchase.

They offer a 50% discount off any current list price for future retirement projection reports just for repeat clients.

Personally, I think this would be a great idea for those who want retirement income and cashflow planning peace of mind, key aspects to a happy retirement.

That’s my review of the Cashflow and Portfolios Retirement Projections Service.

Hope you found this review helpful.

Do you have a strategy for asset de-accumulation and your investment portfolio drawdown plans?

If so, what are they?

What is your Cashflow and Portfolios Retirement Projection Review?

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9 thoughts on “Cashflow and Portfolios Retirement Projections Review”

  1. This is really great stuff. Thanks for sharing, GYM!

    I think a lot of people will be suprised to see how much income they’ll have in retirement. Even without any saving, if you lived and worked most of your life in Canada, you’ll end up with around $30k in OAS and CPP in retirement. Quite a lot of money if you plan on having your home paid off by then!

    Now that you’ve learned that your income in retirement could be huge – around $100k or more – do you plan on making any changes to your saving or retirement plans?

    Reply
    • @AnotherLoonie- I know pretty much everyone is “FIRE” at 65, they just have to get to 65 (as long as the government benefits are not drastically changed), around $60,000 is not bad at all if you own your home and are a couple.

      I don’t plan on making any changes until I reach my goal in a few years. After that I will dial down the gas pedal. I am also seriously considering emptying out the RRSP before the mandatory RRIF, the tax difference is huge!

      Also, my motto is to plan for receiving nothing from the government- who knows what will change decades down the road.

      Reply
    • That’s a great point Loonie – many Canadians that are fortunate to have worked and/or lived in Canada for a few decades will benefit from the generous payouts from CPP and OAS programs.

      Not an insignificant amount of money for any 60-something to consider!

      Reply
  2. Great summary. Another option for DIY is the following Canadian Calculator:

    https://www.moneyreadyapp.ca/

    Provides similar information for those that want to have an application that they can run when needed and adjust numbers to look at different scenarios.

    P.S., I have no affiliation with this application – just a very happy user!

    Reply
  3. Hi GYM
    Surprising how many people nowadays want to live off or partially off of the government.
    GYM is a 30 something millennial interested in achieving financial freedom through disciplined saving, dividend and ETF investing, and living a minimalist lifestyle. I am also seriously considering emptying out the RRSP before the mandatory RRIF, the tax difference is huge!
    Considering that the TFSA came in in 2009 and at that time the contribution limit was already $5000, it surprises me that you continued to dole cash into an RRSP.
    I have always found that information,which for the most part is free, is king, not paying someone else to do your work for you.
    Having started my FIRE journey way before blogger was even a word in the dictionary or google was a household word and also before the Commodore 64, I cannot fathom why so many people would actually put their financial trust or supposed peace of mind in people like yourself or Cashflows & Portfolios.
    See the basic problem I have in giving you or Cashflows & Portfolios a look at my portfolio is this. There is nothing to stop you or them from taking my information and making it public knowledge.
    If my Financial Advisor(which I currently no longer have) were to have made my information public, they themselves, their institution that they work for would be held liable for all information disclosed. Apart from being sued, the people responsible would lose their jobs, their careers and would most likely become a blogger like yourself.
    See the way I see it, Mike and Joe at Cashflows & Portfolios, yourself and all the other FIRE bloggers all want to trade your 9 to 5 jobs in and live off us and the reenue we generate for all of you by being on your sites.
    Mike and Joe have not achieved FIRE, they just traded in one job for another, nothing else.
    Now you can take it as you may, but alot of us achieved FIRE way before you kids were ever born.

    Reply
    • @g- Thanks for your comment and for visiting g. I continue to dole cash into an RRSP for the non-taxed compounded growth on my US investments, yes, it’s a great way to invest ex-Canada! I think I will be paying my fair share of taxes (and am currently), at age 100 I will be at marginal tax rate of 41% according to their calculations!

      Thanks for sharing your experience and wisdom, the FIRE journey terminology has really caught on. I wouldn’t label myself as a “FIRE blogger”, but just sharing what I am learning along the way. As Mark has mentioned, I don’t need to blog, I just find it fun to connect with like minded individuals and as mentioned, share what I have learned myself. Congrats on achieving FIRE before I was born, hope you are enjoying your retirement!

      Reply
  4. You know g, you raise some good points but also here to reply and clarify a few things….your perspectives may vary.

    1. “Surprising how many people nowadays want to live off or partially off of the government.”

    Very fair. However, I will let GYM answer from her perspective but safe to say many bloggers and non-bloggers that I know of – that are passionate about personal finance and investing – are actually thinking about not working full-time to even age 60 – which will reduce any future CPP benefits. So, they will not realize full CPP benefits in particular since they are slowing down work and therefore CPP contributions in their 50s. They are giving up some of those CPP benefits for a better way of working that works for them. I personally have nothing wrong with folks deciding what is best for them and their families. Just like you did.

    2. What’s your personal take on the RRSP vs. TFSA debate? Happy to hear your thoughts. Sounds like you have some strong opinions.

    3. I also know many other investors that were on their “FIRE journey” way before it had any acronym. Nothing wrong with that. There are also many people on some form of financial independence journey that never blog or podcast or other. There is nothing wrong with that of course and kudos to them in fact. Blogging or podcasting is a choice and one that requires lots of time in fact for very little financial gain.

    4. In terms of “cannot fathom why so many people would actually put their financial trust or supposed peace of mind in people like yourself or Cashflows & Portfolios.” Well, the work we do is encrytped for one with clients. Two, if anyone has any questions about our process and services, and they don’t want to go ahead for those reasons, there are never any questions – we support any client decision. Third, we have an obligation with clients just like they have an obligation to keep our personal history intact as well – you might be surprised how much our clients know about us and our personal ways of investing. In fact, much of the support we offer to readers/emails is free – we offer information and resources to many folks for free, on our own time; references to tax professionals, lawyers and more – but I suspect you might not have known that. Fourth, all reports to clients are performed for their educational purposes only. We always encourage folks to seek out professional advice if they need it or when they may even think they need it. We do not offer any personal advice at all. Fifth, we also promote other related services and free financial calculators as well, and we’ll continue to do so. We had a post about that entirely.

    Finally, I can speak for myself that I blog for the fun of it. I don’t have to blog. I could do many other things with my time.

    It sounds like you have made some wise financial decisions to have achieved “FIRE way before you kids were ever born”.

    Well done and best wishes.

    Reply

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