One question that I’ve been getting asked a lot, both from listeners of the podcast, as well as those in my investing course, is how to deal with and optimize any sort of investments through your work.  Typically, in Canada, when you work for a mid-size or large organization, you’ll either be part of a defined contribution pension plan, or a defined benefit pension plan.  We’re going to cover both types of pensions in this interview, and specifically, some of the things we’ll cover are: How should a pension factor into how you view your finances/investments? (And again, this is all going to be for both types of pensions, no matter which one you have). What should your portfolio look like with a pension (i.e. more equity than bonds?), especially depending on the type of pension that you have. How to factor a pension into an early retirement. The tax implications of potentially taking a buyout for early retirement (if that's an option) We cover all that, and much more in the interview (scroll down for the full list of questions).  Our Expert Guest: To help me with this, I have Robb Engen on the show, who is one of the most reputable fee-for-service financial planners that I know of in Canada.  He also runs one of the largest and most reputable personal finance blogs in Canada called boomerandecho.com.  He’s regularly quoted or featured in financial media such as the Globe & Mail, MoneySense, the Financial Post, CBC, and Global News. He used to actually work for a university here in Canada, where he had one of those nice gold-plated pensions, but ended up transitioning from that to becoming self-employed, so he had to go through this pension analysis himself first-hand on what to do when you have a pension, and then no longer wish to stay with that employer.  Because of his background, first-hand experience with pensions, and fantastic reputation in this space here in Canada, I thought he’d be a great fit for this episode, as he’s gone through these options and this analysis himself, so it’s not just some theory that we’re going to be talking about here. Resources Mentioned: Robb's Site: BoomerAndEcho.com Robb's Fee-for-Service Financial Planning Page: https://boomerandecho.com/fee-only-advice/ You can get your free Passiv account here: BuildWealthCanada.ca/free My guide on how to redeem your free premium account upgrade in Passiv is here: BuildWealthCanada.ca/passiv You can view the stock/equity side of my portfolio (what I invest in and how much of each ETF type I buy) here: BuildWealthCanada.ca/portfolio The account that I use for the safe part of my portfolio is here (I use the high-interest savings account, but they also do GICs if you are willing to lock in the money for a bit to get a higher rate): BuildWealthCanada.ca/safe Questions Covered: To start things off, can you take us through what the main pension types are for Canadians, and what are the key differences between them? How should the 2 different pension types factor into how you view your finances and investments? What should your investment portfolio look like, depending on the type of pension that you have? (ie. more equity than bonds if you have a defined benefit pension?) How do you factor in a pension into an early retirement? (for both pension types) What are the tax implications of potentially taking a pension buyout for early retirement? (if that's an option) Robb, you had a defined benefit pension when you worked at the university before becoming self-employed as a fee-for-service financial planner. Can you take us through how you decided between keeping the pension vs receiving the buyout? What are the pros and cons of each approach? When you have a defined benefit pension plan, your RRSP contribution room gets reduced. This begs the question of whether employees with good defined benefit pension plans should even bother with RRSPs. Let’s also tackle this question fo