What’s your biggest retirement success – and regret?

In retirement planning, 99 per cent of the advice and commentary comes from people who are not retired.

This isn’t a knock on financial planners and advisers, who ideally have worked with many clients at all stages of retirement and know the issues. But hearing more from retirees about retirement just makes sense. That’s why you’ll see periodic retiree surveys in this newsletter in the months ahead. I’m aiming to get some snapshots of what’s working for retirees, and what their challenges are.

To start, here’s a quick survey asking retirees to pick their top success and biggest regret. Please provide your own short answer if you don’t see one that applies to you – make sure to include your age and where you live. Stay tuned to see the results in a future newsletter:

Subscribe to Carrick on Money

Are you reading this newsletter on the web or did someone forward the e-mail version to you? If so, you can sign up for Carrick on Money here.

Rob’s personal finance reading list

Home decorating trends that make your house look old

Bold, bright paint, honey oak cabinets, macrame and more. It says here they make your house look old school, and not in a good way.

Home equity and your retirement

A study looks at why advisers shy away from building retirement plans that incorporate use of a client’s home equity. Great topic. Boomers in particular are rich in home equity.

Unpacking the free checked bag credit card perk

A deep dive on what seems to be a very appealing feature offered by credit card reward programs affiliated with airlines – free checked bags. Note the fine print.

A new economic term (that you won’t like)

Meet stagflation, a term describing a mix of high inflation, slow economic growth and high unemployment. We’re not in stagflation territory now because the job market is holding up, but we do have high inflation and a slowing economy.

Ask Rob

Q: I have stocks that increased 80, 120 and 265 per cent in book value. I need to sell some. I find it difficult to choose which of the three I should sell, seeing that they are all doing well. What would you do?

A: Ah, to have such problems. I’d take a look at the three stocks to determine the extent to which the price gains have been driven by fundamentals that are sustainable into the future. I’d take profits on the stock I felt was least likely to keep up past growth trends.

Do you have a question for me? Send it my way. Sorry I can't answer every one personally. Questions and answers are edited for length and clarity.

Tools, explainers, guides and charts

The federal government has created a Retirement Hub to help people find out about their options for starting Canada Pension Plan retirement benefits and Old Age Security. There’s also a link to the ever-useful Canadian Retirement Income Calculator.

The Money-Free Zone

Sorry, but this song was playing in my head as I wrote my latest column on what’s happening in the economy and financial markets. It’s Bad You Know, by the electric blues musician Robert Burnside.

Listen to this

I talk retirement on the Pension Blueprint podcast from OMERS – the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System.

On social media

Globe and Mail tax columnist Tim Cestnik on the performance of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the idea of Alberta starting its own provincial pension.

In case you missed these Globe and Mail personal finance-related stories

• Canadian kids cost parents more than $350,000 from birth to 17, Statistics Canada study suggests
• Insurance agents facing penalties and discipline after Ontario regulators uncover ‘harmful’ sales practices
• How often should you rebalance your investment portfolio?

More Rob Carrick and money coverage

Subscribe to Stress Test on Apple podcasts or Spotify. For more money stories, follow me on Instagram and Twitter, and join the discussion on my Facebook page. Millennial readers, join our Gen Y Money Facebook group.

Even more coverage from Rob Carrick:

• 🎧 Catch up on Stress Test: Why millennials and Gen Z are Alberta-bound for a more affordable life • Rising interest rates brought pain for new homeowners – and opportunity for house hunters • Why more Canadians are choosing to be childfree or delay parenthood • Love in the time of inflation: How to manage rising costs when dating • You're not bad at money – you're suffering from money shame • Retirement might look different for Gen Z and millennials. Here's how to plan for it • Recession-beating tips for the job market, housing, investing and the cost of life • Is the middle class dead for millennials and Gen Z?
• ✔️ The housing file: A house isn’t special. Get your head straight about the reality of home ownership • The good, the sad and the unaffordable: Saving for a home downpayment in Canada’s big cities • Property taxes are popping in some cities – how worried should you be about other tax hikes? • Our other real-estate problem – people have too much wealth tied up in houses • Borrowers and savers, here’s how to time the eventual rollback of interest rates
• 📈 Investing: Canada's top digital broker is TD Direct Investing, with an assist from the TD Easy Trade app • 2023 Globe and Mail ETF buyer's guide part one: Canadian equity ETFs • For the ultimate in cheap investing, check out the Freedom .08 ETF Portfolio • Yes, there is risk in Canadian bank deposits for the unwary and complacent • CDIC covers bank deposits, but who protects your investments if your broker goes bust? • Answers to your questions about the low-risk ETF paying almost 5% • Happy fifth birthday to one of the all-time best investing products for everyday people • An investing strategy that wins cleanly over the long term by outperforming in bad years like 2022
• 💰 Your money: Mortgage holders, savers and GIC investors, it’s time to change your thinking on interest rates • How much debt is each generation of Canadians carrying, and how do you compare? • For the sake of their financial futures, young people should leave Toronto and Vancouver • This practical new spin on a savings account might just peel you away from your big bank • Rental fraud grows amid rise in fake, falsified tenant applications • Are Canadians worse off financially now than in the 1980s? • From groceries to auto loans, here’s how much more it costs to live right now • When saving for retirement, should you change your asset mix over the course of your career? • Do retirement income needs always rise alongside inflation? Not necessarily • When the bank suggests you lock in your variable rate mortgage, it has an angle