The Retirement Lie

The Retirement Lie

( Randeep Dosanjh ) We all look forward to retirement. The closer we get, the harder it is to retire – the anxiety and fear with inflation and the increase in the cost of goods and services we all plan for is not enough for many people. There are a few reasons why this problem can be regulated and slowed down but has yet to face this challenge. In places like Vancouver (Canada), one of the most expensive places in the world to live, the retirement dream is just that. I blame this on unregulated, poorly controlled, negligent government decisions to allow foreign investment, immigration and a lack of sustainable public services. The same might be said of America or the UK. Today’s retiree might have $2 million saved up but when the cost of a condo is half that, with needing a car and gas, to eat and live – you might not make it too far. It costs more money to eat healthy and have a regular exercise program than it does to live on junk food and do nothing. Think about this, you’ve got $2million in RRSPs, never had a portfolio - you just saved and put away money. Even your house is paid off, your kids are married now, you or your spouse both have heart disease or worse, stroke or an impairment despite living healthy your whole life. Pretty tough years before you die not

to mention those trips around the world you had planned are also out of your price range. This is the reality of many retirees.

The first problem with the current state in North America and the UK, I see it Vancouver all the time, we have real estate owned by people who don’t even live in the country! So now, the good citizens of your country, the 3rd generation types like myself, might have parents who can’t afford to retire while the Consumer Buying Power Index reports that isn't true because of these rapid real estate and business transactions for people who might have local addresses but foreign citizenship. The other type puts most of their money in their kids and their mortgage while relying on their kids to take care of them while the kids realize they can't afford to live in their own country because the cost of things is blown way out of per-portion. What kind of ding-dong decided that poorly regulated Foreign Investment was good idea? In other places, they have sections of land and property (not to mention other limits) as to where someone who is not a citizen can buy if they don’t live in the country. Canada sold its real estate to other people and nations not to mention a mining company under the current government mines here but is now owned by the Chinese. Yes, that's right, that firm pays income tax elsewhere and we buy those mined metals as goods made by a company which is not even Canadian!

Yes, this was also a stupid move but if you're literally born in a barn in Alberta, think Preston Manning is an economic Right Wing genius and can’t think past farm gate, you’re going to get taken advantage of because you're stupid. Sad reality but it’s true.

Then maybe not your parents or mine but I can name more than a handful who cannot afford to retire based on the fact that consumer buying power has been killed by foreign investment which was not regulated well. The United States faced this in different areas and also the UK. The problem when this argument is made, they take anyone of colour and say that they’re a foreigner when the reality is, with the lack of education on this note, there are 3 generation Canadians and families of British Imperialism which are Indians or from elsewhere. I’m of that group and I’m a 3rd generation Canadian, we came in 1906 and had house in Vancouver ever since. Not to mention we have land in India and it’s a nation I love just as much. If you think that isn't right wait till you hear this - India is an ally of Canada, The United States of America and The United Kingdom that’s right, we’re all connected and we are working together.

(Above Chart, www, http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublications/2012-43s-e.htm) The second problem facing retirees and their retirement funds is that so much of our public dollars goes to the immigration, health care, education and many other areas. If Canadians cannot afford to live and retire because we have to support people from other nations and build the public systems needed to support them, maybe we need to re think how to do this without killing the ability of Canadians to survive. It’s a great idea to have people from different places come to Canada but once you've shipped out all your raw materials to buy back from foreign companies from the retail shelf, the jobs and buying power of your consumers is so little that for the best things you planned and saved for in retirement are now way out of your price range as well as public services like health care and education. These ding-dongs in government policy since 1991 or so have not only tried at one time to eliminate the United Church of Canada (which was where offices and information of how to learn English and settle in Canada once were), they also sold your real estate to other people who don’t live in your country while bringing people in with no reference to Canadian culture values (which one can learn over time but instead they open businesses with nothing written in English unless you look close enough or ask for it in some places) and they made it impossible to buy things at a reasonable cost, support newcomers and public services like education and health care.

The third problem which hits home is that there is a lack of local values and pop culture references to Canada, perhaps to the USA and the UK as well, in the learning curriculum at school for kids so when they leave school they learned the same things one could learn anywhere from a textbook and could care less if most Canadian’s are having a hard time retiring – so the sense of national pride which defined us as a nation for helping one another, in this case seniors, some of them war vets and others is not something which is valued in the same regard. The cost of health care also goes up because we have these foreign dollars which inflated the cost of everything around us.

You see, when the prices of goods goes up it’s because there is enough consumer and investor purchasing power which is seen in other areas. So if they can sell a bunch of $1 million dollar real estate properties quick and easy, the index of consumer buying says, consumers can afford to buy things which cost more and this propagates itself to the cost of all other private and public goods and services. Today retirees who now aren't living the “Life of Riley” like they planned but rather the exact opposite with millions of dollars in the bank which isn't going to last long are Canadian’s which we need to focus on. The same argument goes for any nation. I just mention the United States and the United Kingdom because this is a problem being addressed there as well. Racism is not the answer, it is the understanding that there’s more value in teaching culture and cultural values than remembering a bunch of history facts.

I’ll finish off with this last bit about when I was watching Lang and O’Leary on CBC and had to hear why things are cheaper in the USA compared to Canada. Got news for Canadians and nations in this scenario as well - that racism, gender bias and pointing fingers in those areas is always wrong. The problem really is that you sold off your nation to foreigners, you killed Canadian (Or local) buying power and people can’t afford to retire because of a nation with an inability to regulate NAFTA and other policies enough to keep your country affordable enough to live in.

Author: Randeep Dosanjh A Rights Reserved with any reference to this article in whole or in part with the consent of the Author: Randeep Dosanjh  Share on LinkedIn  Share on Facebook  Share on Google Plus  Share on Twitter