Saturday= Retirement
Do you know that you have a choice about taking OAS? Not everyone knows that you are not required to start receiving your Old Age Security when you turn 65. I have spoken before about how you might want to wait to take your OAS if you are over 65 and still working and earning a good income. The reasoning behind this is that OAS is repayable for high-income earners. So if you can wait to take it until your income has dropped then you can reduce the amount you have to pay back.
Other reasons you might wait is that you plan to live for a long time– so you can wait to take OAS. If you wait until you are 70 you will get 36% more OAS than you would have received if you took it at 65. Of course you did not receive OAS for 5 years so you are out that much money. If you are going to live for a long time then you will make that up. If you pass away at 71 then waiting was a bad idea.
This type of planning is much easier to do if you know exactly when you are going to die. (More accounting humour)
Spend a little time with you financial advisors when you are approaching age 65 and decide if you would be better off waiting.
No comments yet.