We are going to be entering another phase in our lives at the end of the year. Hubby will be "retiring," at the end of September, but will be paid by the company until the end of the year. So in theory we won't be living on pensions, investments, savings etc., until 2025.
Normally filling out these government forms should be easy, but when you have to have forms notarized, signed by a professional, photo copied etc., etc. These things take a bit longer than normal. We have to show copies of immigration, marriage, birth certificates. We have to supply dates of where hubby worked in the UK, and for how long. Where we lived in the UK and dates; my info even though I am not applying for anything. If we got child allowance in both countries, and on, and on it goes. Good news though, they don't need to know how many times a day you go to the toilet 😜, yes I am being sarcastic!
Both the Canadian and UK governments have different requirements which is normal. One down side is that hubby will have to go to Service Canada to get items stamped. That involves lining up for an extended period of time as we only have one location in the city we live and believe me when I say it's busy. We could go to other cities but it's the same everywhere.
There is an office in the same building as our doctor and the line is generally around the block of people waiting to be seen.
Luckily getting paid by the Canadian Government is pretty easy, as we are all set up with our tax returns. The saga we went through to get the small pension from hubby work place in the UK took three months to get sorted, but hopefully we can now copy and paste the banking info and it should work for the UK Government.
However, as we all know what works for one official office, is the never the same with another. So that being said we are going to start the applications by April/May in the hopes everything gets sorted by the end of the year.
Which is quite sad if you think about it, that we just don't trust any government to get anything right?
Now that being said, we are so grateful that we are able to qualify for multiple pensions, as if we had to rely on just the two Canadian government pensions we wouldn't be able to survive on those.
You have to work 40 years in Canada to qualify for full CPP and the OAS. As hubby has only 35 1/2 years he gets reduced pensions, which will total less than $2,000 per month, despite the fact he paid his full amount every year he has worked here.
Anyway, all of this is keeping hubby and I busy trying to sort it out.
Then there's the pension and income splitting saga..........but that's enough for one day...LOL Luckily our son is an accountant, and between me and you he owes us😜
8 comments:
Good luck with it all and I really hope everything goes through smoothly and without any hiccups. xx
The Canadian pension is a gong show. My husband was in the military. Paid for the full military pension. When he turned 65 and OAS and CPP kicked in, the govt clawed back the difference from his military pension. If we'd realized they were going to do that we would never have paid for the replacement funds his first wife took in the divorce.
One of my younger coworkers told me that it can take up to a year for CPP to kick in, her Mum works for them. I actually received all my paper work to apply the week after my 64th birthday. My work pension takes 3 months prior application before the first payment.
You can make appointments at Service Canada, not sure how far in advance you have to book them though
I did my pension online and it went really smoothly. I get a grand total of just over $200.00 per month in CPP, but the full OAS. Hubby, who had worked for at least 40 years and paying in the most gets way more than I do.
I am so glad I listened to my father back in the 60's who kept telling all of us to save what we could and as much as we could since CPP would never be enough for retirement.
God bless.
I was a stay-at-home mom and because of that didn't pay into CPP beyond a few years so of course my take out is much less than it could have been. I don't remember it being a huge hassle to apply for either it or the OAS but I wasn't compounding the issue with adding in getting a pension from overseas. Hopefully you can get it all sorted with a minimum of angst.
Hi Gill, this sounds a lot like what is happening with us. Chuck is retiring in December. He already receives his military pension and a disability pension from Veterans Affairs. He will receive a pension from his current job but wants to defer it until 65 (December 2025) along with CPP. Like “50 and counting” Chuck’s military pension will be clawed back. Not right!!! Like “Jackie” we have saved for most of our 40+ year marriage so we will be fine.
Robin
There does seem to be a lot of work and hoops to jump through to be retired! Husband just turned 60 in July, so we're trying to prepare for retirement hopefully by the time he reaches 65. Hope it all goes well.
Hopefully, this task will prove not to be onerous. I am glad you will have enough to be comfortable.
Practical Parsimony
I hate paperwork and don't envy you having to do this one single bit. I hope it all comes out well. Oh, and thanks for coming by Marmelade Gypsy the other day!
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