Retirement Planning For Incorporated Lawyers: Controlling What Comes Next

As an incorporated lawyer, you work for yourself. That doesn't mean you have to work forever. An RRSP is one way to plan for retirement—but it's just a start. Here's why a pension—and maybe even permanent life insurance—belong in the mix.

Part 1: Pay Yourself in Pension

For many mid-career Canadians, the idea of a pension sounds great—if you've got one. But most lawyers don't. In the private sector, where incorporated lawyers work, only one in five Canadian workers has an employer-backed pension—and fewer than one in ten enjoy the stability of a defined benefit plan.¹

The Canada Pension Plan (or Quebec Pension Plan) and Old Age Security will give you a baseline, but they were never meant to provide more than a modest share of your retirement income.