Modest, but enough: Two middle-class couples share their retirement budgets

To demonstrate this, we present examples of two Ontario couples’ retirement spending budgets provided by Janet Gray, a certified financial planner with Money Coaches Canada, based on her work with clients. A couple we’ll call Sheila and Tom live in a small Ontario town and are planning a modest annual retirement spending budget of $58,000. I plan to provide retirement spending examples for singles in a future column. They have gotten used to a frugal lifestyle while working and are very comfortable planning an annual retirement budget of $58,000 for the initial phase of retirement. In the case of Louisa and Allen’s spending budget, a figure of $20,000 for renting comes close to their existing homeowner shelter budget.