Romesh and Gayle look to renovate their basement for $125,000, retire in a decade, and travel with their son while he’s still young.Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail
Romesh and Gayle are in their mid-50s with one child, a combined income of $150,000 a year and a house with a $475,000 mortgage in Toronto.
Gayle earns $65,000 a year in education plus another $20,000 a year freelancing, while Romesh averages $65,000 a year as a self-employed freelancer.
“I went back to school during the COVID-19 pandemic and switched careers, leaving a well-paying job as a journalist with a pension to become a teacher,” Gayle writes in an e-mail. “I dipped into my RRSPs to pay my tuition and took a significant pay cut as a new teacher,” Gayle adds. “Now my salary will gradually increase every year, maxing out at $110,000 when I turn 60.”
In the short term, they want to renovate their basement at a cost of $125,000, which will add to their debt load. They wonder if it would be worth spending an extra $50,000 to add a basement suite they can rent out for extra income. They’d also like to travel more while their son is still young.
“Can I afford to retire at 62?” Gayle asks. “Can my husband retire at 65?” Their retirement spending goal is $8,000 a month after tax.
We asked Jeff McCartney, a certified financial planner with Objective Financial Partners Inc. in Markham, Ont., to look at the couple’s situation. Objective is an advice-only financial planning firm.
What the Expert Says
Romesh and Gayle have three main goals, Mr. McCartney says. The first is to renovate their basement for about $125,000, which will need an increase to their mortgage or a line of credit to finance. The second goal is to retire when Romesh is 65 and Gayle is 62 and the third is to travel together as a family while their son is still young.
“Starting with the most attainable goal first, they set an annual vacation budget target of about $6,000,” the planner says. “Given their current approach to spending, this expense is reasonable, barring no change in their current financial trajectory,” he says. “Their projected savings rate, even with the vacation cost, appears to have them on track to retire at their target date.”
To achieve their two bigger goals, they must start by considering the cost of an increased mortgage or line of credit payment, and the impact that it will have on their long-term savings rate, Mr. McCartney says. His analysis assumed that a $125,000 mortgage increase would have an interest rate of 4.2 per cent and an amortization period of 15 years.
“The good news is that even with this additional mortgage debt, they are still able to achieve their goal of $8,000 per month in after-tax retirement income in today’s dollars, albeit with a few additional recommendations,” the planner says.
First, Gayle should open a tax-free savings account to take advantage of the tax-free growth that it provides. An additional contribution of $300 per month to this account would have a “really positive impact” on their ability to maintain their desired lifestyle right through until age 95, he says.
Alternatively, putting that same $300 extra per month toward accelerated debt repayment should put them in a similar spot. Their TFSAs would need to earn a higher return than the interest rate on their debt to make investing more compelling than debt repayment.
They should also consider using their non-registered investments such as Romesh’s crypto ETF account to either fund the renovation or at least to fund Gayle’s TFSA, the planner says.
“If you have TFSA room and you have non-registered investments, you are missing an opportunity,” he says. Non-registered accounts are taxable, and TFSAs provide an opportunity to earn a return tax-free. There are no tax issues either for one spouse to give the other spouse money to contribute to their TFSA.
Although this is several years away, analysis also indicates that they should delay taking their Canada Pension Plan benefits until age 70, Mr. McCartney says. Delaying CPP from age 65 to 70 will allow them to increase their future payments by 42 per cent. Similarly, they may also wish to consider delaying receiving Old Age Security benefits from 65 until age 70 as well, because this will add an additional 36 per cent to their monthly payments.
Romesh and Gayle also wanted to investigate the possibility of spending an additional $50,000 on their basement renovation to make it rental-ready so that it can be used to generate $15,000 a year worth of additional income once they retire.
“This strategy results in an 11-per-cent increase in the family’s net worth at Gayle’s age 95,” the planner says. Alternatively, Romesh and Gayle could increase their planned retirement lifestyle expenses by five per cent without jeopardizing their financial plan. “Whether they will want to be landlords in their 70s or 80s is for them to decide, but in the short-term, it could definitely improve their financial trajectory.”
There is one significant factor to be aware of here, and that is the change-of-use rules that could limit their ability to claim the full principal residence exemption when they sell their home This exemption allows homeowners to avoid paying capital gains taxes when they sell their primary residence. But under certain circumstances, the Income Tax Act could consider a homeowner to have disposed of either part or all of their principal residence even if they didn’t actually sell it.
“This can happen when certain parts of a home, such as a basement, are converted to a rental property, particularly following a renovation,” he says.
Romesh and Gayle may want to ensure that their basement apartment’s rental use is ancillary to the main use of the property as a residence, that there are no structural changes to the property to accommodate the rental, and that no capital cost allowance is claimed on the property.
Can Evelyn, 62, and Ezra, 70, afford to both travel and financially assist their son?
Of note, Romesh and Gayle are currently saving $150 per month to RESPs. With a current value of $50,000, they are on track to being able to afford to pay $15,000 per year for four years of postsecondary education when their son is 18. That may be enough to cover the cost if he were to live at home. However, students who go away for university often find the “all in” costs can range between $20,000 and $30,000 per year, Mr. McCartney says.
“Romesh and Gayle can sit down with their son and discuss the future, what schools will cost, and what he might be expected to contribute.”
Client Situation
The People: Romesh, 54, Gayle, 52, and their son, 11.
The Problem: Can they afford to renovate their basement and retire in a decade or so with $72,000 a year after tax spending?
The Plan: Use Romesh’s crypto ETF to either fund the basement renovation or Gayle’s tax-free savings account. Gayle should consider contributing regularly to her TFSA to take advantage of the tax-free growth. Alternatively, they could put that $300 a month toward paying down debt. Consider delaying government benefits to age 70.
The Payoff: An understanding of the steps they can take now to make it more likely they will achieve their long-term financial goals.
Monthly net income: $9,400.
Assets: Cash $5,000; his RRSP $300,000; her RRSP $275,000; his TFSA $10,000; his crypto ETF $100,000; registered education savings plan $50,000; residence $1,300,000. Total: $2-million.
Liabilities: Mortgage, $475,000 at 2.74 per cent; student loan $15,000 at 2.5 per cent. Total: $490,000.
Estimated present value of Gayle’s DB pensions: $548,000 for the $25,245 government pension and $542,000 for the $26,490 teacher’s pension. This is what someone with no pension would have to save to generate the same income.
Monthly outlays: Mortgage $2,300; property tax $390; water, sewer, garbage $75; home insurance $100; electricity $150; heating $50; maintenance $100; car insurance $250; other transportation $290; groceries $1,000; child care $375; clothing $100; student loan $140; gifts, charity $150; vacation, travel $500; other discretionary $60; dining, drinks, entertainment $350; club memberships $160; sports, hobbies $400; subscriptions $50; health care $250; life insurance $200; phones, TV, internet $235; RRSPs $500; RESP $150; TFSAs $400. Total: $8,725
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