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  2. /Finance
  3. /Retirement Planning

How to Retire in 10 Years or Less 2025

This course provides a step-by-step plan to build significant retirement savings in 10 years or less.

Created byDavid Trahairworkspace_premiumBest Instructor
BeginnerUpdated Sep 22, 2025

What You'll Learn

  • check_circleImplement the most important step for personal finances: tracking your spending
  • check_circleOptimize your retirement accumulation and drawdown strategy using a FREE spreadsheet
  • check_circleDecide what is the best option: RRSPs, TFSAs, pay down debt or use a regular investment account
  • check_circleNavigate retirement tax planning opportunities effectively.
  • check_circleStrategize for healthcare, death, and probate costs.
  • check_circleMake informed decisions about credit and investments.

About This Course

This "How to Retire in 10 Years or Less 2025" course, based on the #1 Globe and Mail bestselling book "The Procrastinator's Guide to Retirement," offers a comprehensive, step-by-step process for individuals who may be starting late but are determined to secure a comfortable retirement. Even in today's expensive world with high inflation, this course provides hope and a clear plan to build significant retirement savings.

You'll learn to play your cards right by meticulously tracking your spending and identifying discretionary cash outflows. The course emphasizes basing retirement calculations on projected spending rather than arbitrary income percentages, offering a personalized approach to financial planning. You'll gain practical skills in using tools like Excel, including features like Copilot, to analyze your financial situation and optimize savings.

Key topics covered in this course include:

  • Tracking your spending and analyzing cash outflows.
  • Optimizing the use of excess funds: RRSP, TFSA, mortgage paydown, or regular investment accounts.
  • Utilizing the "Procrastinator's Number Cruncher" spreadsheet for strategic financial planning.
  • Understanding retirement tax planning opportunities, including pension income splitting and spousal RRSPs.
  • Assessing your length of retirement and navigating sequence of return risk with conservative investment strategies.
  • Exploring options like RRIFs versus annuities and their implications for lifelong income.
  • Addressing old age healthcare risks and strategies for travel insurance.
  • Minimizing death taxes and probate fees through effective estate planning.
  • Making informed decisions about credit cards and managing debt effectively.

By the end of this course, you will have a clear understanding of your financial landscape and a tailored strategy to achieve your retirement goals in ten years or less, ensuring peace of mind for your future.

Course Content

7 activities • 7 videos • duration: 3h 54m

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Introduction, tracking your spending1 videos • 20 min
  • videocamIntroduction, tracking your spending
    Duration 20:35
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Sample family1 videos • 23 min
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Your pre-retirement investing strategy1 videos • 45 min
add
Retirement tax opportunities, length of retirement1 videos • 37 min
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RRIFs vs annuities, retirement spending1 videos • 37 min
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Old age healthcare, death taxes, probate fees1 videos • 41 min
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Debt, credit cards, conclusion1 videos • 1 quiz • 29 min

Your Instructor

David Trahair

Acclaimed Author and On-demand Course Developer

menu_book39 courses
star12,968 reviews

David Trahair, CPA, CA, is an author and eLearning developer who creates on-demand video courses for CPAs across Canada. His courses cover topics including personal finance, ethics, AI, and Microsoft Excel. David is also the author of six personal finance books, three of which are national bestsellers. Through his firm, he helps CPAs build practical skills through engaging, self-paced learning.

Credit Information

Is this course eligible for my CPD requirements as a Canadian CPA?

Provincial regulators of CPAs in Canada do not require that independent providers of CPD be approved to offer courses. Instead, individual CPAs are responsible for assessing whether a CPD activity meets their requirements, and may take activities from any source provided those requirements are met.

Every course offered on LearnFormula is delivered by a qualified subject matter expert or learning organization, and advances learning objectives that are relevant to the responsibilities or professional competencies of Canadian CPAs. All activities on LearnFormula are quantifiable in terms of hours, and are also verifiable, in that users receive documented evidence of their attendance via a certificate of completion after finishing a course (and this certificate is stored by LearnFormula indefinitely). Nearly 100,000 Canadian CPAs successfully satisfy their CPD requirements via LearnFormula on an annual basis.

What Students Are Saying

5.0 out of 5
Student's Choice
855 reviews
  • JK
    Jennifer K.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Excellent source of information, the resource materials are very helpful

  • AN
    Angie N.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Informative

  • RK
    Ron K.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Yes. I plan to retire in the next 3 years.

  • LW
    Laura W.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Great course with a ton of useful resources.

Frequently Asked Questions

We are a registered provider with 300+ associations and regulatory bodies worldwide. We operate across 27 global markets including Canada, the US, Australia, and the UK. Every course page clearly displays its specific accreditations. Upon completion, you receive a professional certificate that can be validated online. Our certificates include all necessary accreditation details, credit hours, and completion dates, and are formatted specifically to meet the submission requirements of most global regulatory bodies.

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