Canadians are worried about financial planning for retirement. It is not enough to have detailed plans and ideas on how you will spend your time during your retirement years. You will also need the financial resources to maintain your desired standard of living.

A December 2002 survey, conducted by Statistics Canada, has revealed that one-third of those aged 45 to 59 felt that they were not making adequate financial preparations to fund their retirement years. Although the other two-thirds felt that they were making adequate financial preparations, women expected that their retirement income would be barely adequate to maintain their standard of living after leaving the work force.

This survey clearly shows that there is a lot of stress about retirement planning. This type of stress comes from uncertainty about the future. To help relieve this anxiety you must first have a clear understanding about how much money you need to support your desired retirement lifestyle.

Start with your current spending habits, then try to decide how this may change during your retirement. If you are planning winter getaways to a warmer climate, you had better factor in a cost.

Then determine your sources of income. Typically you have pensions, savings and government pension plans. Unless you have a private pension plan, you are mainly dealing with your life savings to support your retirement lifestyle. You will have to make assumptions on the rate of return you will need to provide your retirement income. Unless your needed return can be obtained through guaranteed investments, you may have to accept some risk and place some of your money into investments with fluctuating rates of return. This too can add more stress.

You are not alone in this exercise. At last count there are over 14,000 Certified Financial Planners in Canada. Do your homework and hire a planner to assist you with the number crunching. You will find it to be a great stress relief.

This is a monthly article on financial planning. Call or write to Rick Sutherland CLU, CFP, FDS, R.F.P., of Fundex Investments with your topics of interest at 798-2421 or E-mail at rick@invested-interest.ca.