Originally Posted by Gh0st (Post 8825011)

If you're happy with your decisions and life then more power to you man.

Nothing like good old fashion love from the parents.. that's going to be the part I miss most!!

I think we share differently ideologies. I'm 25 - Asian (if that makes a difference in what follows)

While the thought of being taken care of (not financially) by our parents is wonderful and we should cherish it for as long as we can, I realized in my early 20's that I should be the one taking care of them both financially and emotionally.

Having 150k in savings is great. I commend you. Have you considered rolling 100k at the time you had it into a pre-sale of a townhome or apartment with a value of 500k? Save 50k for investment or emergency funds. You are still able to contribute and take care of them even if that means renting out the new place if times get rough.

I'm not saying this route is the best route or anything - just probing whether you had thoughts of doing something else? I couldn't imagine living at home past 25, let alone 35. That's a personal opinion only!

My sisters and I have successfully retired our mum because we contributed to the mortgage the last many years, mum sold when the market was hot, made her retirement money at 55 years old, fully bought and paid off a new 2 bedroom condo and just chills now. We downsized from our 3100 sqft Vancouver home because we all wanted a life of our own and after mum got settled in her pad, we went and bought places of our own without taking a dime from the sale of the home. She spends the retirement money however she likes. My two sisters and I all live in close proximity to her and visit, call, and eat dinner at home regulary so mums never lonely. Plus she's got a dog and new member to the family arriving soon (sister's boy). She will soon be a babysitter all over again.

My mom's a widow that immigrated here in the 90's and the word freedom was foreign to her. She doesn't speak English, worked labor jobs her entire life, lived in constant fear and worry of the uncertain future with 3 kids and no support. We grew up okay. My sisters a lawyer (28) and the other ones an accountant (26), and I work in professional services (25).

I guess that's a long winded way of saying I have a soft spot for parents that fall in this era because I saw first hand the difficulties they face just raising us in today's society let alone putting food on the table and a roof over our head. For that reason, the sooner I can contribute and give back, the better.

You make a very good point of being healthy. That's most important. Healthy and happiness. If everyone is both, all is well!

Originally Posted by iPee (Post 8825062)

I think it depends on the ROI on your RRSP. If it's a GIC type, chances are you are earning enough to cover inflation. If you invest in riskier products you'll have a higher chance of getting a bigger return but also risk losing what you invested. I'm lucky that my work matches my contributions up to 5%. So I just have that deducted from my pay cheque and put it into the company funds. We still have to pay a fee for the funds but it is significantly lower than what the clients are paying.

In theory it should be easier to pay down, assuming that you still have potential growth in your career. Hopefully you'll be making more in 10 years from today.

Lastly I don't contribute the max available to my RRSP each year. I put enough so I don't have to pay taxes or get a slight return. The rest I put into TFSA. My reasoning for that is when it's time to retire and you need to take money out of RRSP it could be taxed quite heavily depending on your other sources of income.

Originally Posted by godwin (Post 8825108)

Most people dont' think about retirement cost.. eg a place in a retirement home starts at $5k / month. Ever wonder why Anbang wants to by Retirement Solutions?