Pre-retirees wistfully dream of a time when work is behind them so they can take better care of themselves, enjoy leisure activities and indulge their wanderlust. If you ask me, that’s ass backwards. The wait is costing you. Dearly.
Here’s how:
- Health span: The average Canadian can expect to live to around 82. On average, only 69.7 of those years will be spent in good health. That’s a potential 12-year gap between your lifespan and your health span (Canada Life, 2026). Chronic stress accelerates that gap. Your peak earning years are precisely the time for you to get out there, participate and explore. How you spend this precious time matters.
- Paid time off: Paid time off is part of your compensation package, full stop. Your value as an employee will not increase if you don’t use it. More than one in five Canadians have gone a full year or more without taking a vacation (Expedia’s 2024 Vacation Deprivation Report). Working through your allotted time doesn’t make you more dedicated. It makes your effective hourly rate lower. Stop cheapening yourself.
- Group Travel Insurance: Group travel insurance is the cheapest travel insurance you will ever have. Besides, as you age, you run the risk of acquiring a pre-existing condition that could preclude you from being insurable or make the premiums prohibitively expensive. Imagine falling ill in the US where a hospital stay could easily run $100,000 or more; most of which would not be reimbursed by your provincial health plan. Feel like rolling the dice? Me neither.
Your health span has a peak, your paid time off is part of your compensation and your group benefits are a depreciating asset. Use all three, while you have them.
A common planning mistake we see pre-retirees make isn’t a bad investment, it’s waiting for a better time. What trip have you been putting off? Contact us below talk about building a plan that actually gets you there.
