Ok Tina critical dates life or death
in retirement what are the critical dates that we are talking about today Tina - Well you know Norm
even though we are retired there are some really important dates that everybody needs to know about
if not you can miss out on the chance of getting money which you should be getting
- So the first ones - CPP you can get this at 60 and there are 3 ways that you can get this you
can apply online and this takes 7 to 10 days or you can go into your local Service Canada
or you can do the application by mail now this can take up to about 4 months we are suggesting if
you do this prior to 4 months beforehand get the application and start filling it in and getting
it mailed off aren't we Norm - We are indeed so the standard retirement age to draw CPP is 65 you can
postpone it and get more money up to 71 but either way if you want to start receiving it on time
apply early before your age - Yes absolutely - So we also have OAS all these things
initials Old Age Security you need to be applying for that 11 months before your 65 birthday
to insure you get your Old Age Security paid to you in time so remember 11 months mark it on your
calendar to apply for your Old Age Security that's a relatively easy one - Yes it isn't it
and the next thing Norm is very similar to that it is called The Allowance and
once the other person so in our case once Norm was 65 and he had qualified for OAS and GIS
the partner can get an allowance now you do have to be between the ages of 60 and 64
so hey it's there to take so when your partners got it then apply for The Allowance - So lets
just qualify that Tina so somebody like me 65 I have to be in receipt of the Old Age Security
and I also have to have qualified for the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) so if you
fulfill all those characteristics you partner has to be between 60 and 64 will get The Allowance
- Now another thing that is very important and possibly people just sometimes forget is the
amount of time you are out of the country can substantially effect your pensions you are getting
one of the biggest ones is if you are out of the country for more than 6 months you will
loose your GIS payment you have to be back in our case Ontario and you have to be here to be
getting it if we leave the country for more than 6 months that payment will stop won't it - Seems
so another thing about being outside of your home province
we are Ontario residents so we are talking from an Ontario point of view,
we are allowed to be out of the country for 7 months and still maintain our
Ontario health insurance plan (OHIP) just be mindful in total in a calendar year you can't
be outside of the country for more than 7 months and still qualify for the provincial health plan
in Ontario now there is either a 1 time or 2 time exception it's complicated so stick with us
you can apply for a 1 year exemption provided you have been resident in Ontario for the previous
153 days you apply for that and then they will allow you to be out of the country for
1 year without loosing your health plan benefit you can do that twice or
you can combine the 2 and be out of the country for 2 years
provided you were resident before you left for 153 days very complicated but
it is available for you so if you had to leave the country for a year then you won't loose your
benefit provided you apply for the exemption - Before you go, so then that moves onto a lot
of things happen Norm when you get to be 65 - We need one of those Filofax things to keep track
- At 65 in Ontario you qualify for the provincial drug plan basically what it is you pay the first
$100 deductible after you paid that all your prescriptions are free they are covered by the
province so that especially if you have a lot of medications is an excellent plan isn't Norm - Yes
and that's the one thing that automatically came out for me we got a letter in the mail from the
Ontario health plan and it said I qualified for that so if you haven't received that and you
are 65 be sure to go and find out why you're not getting it and it's a really good one - And actually
Norm we did find the first prescription we picked up that they had automatically switched you over
so it's all automatic they know the health system knows when you turn 65 it's great
- The other is that if you are in receipt of GIS Guaranteed Income Supplement
in Ontario you can apply for a new Dental plan that just came out this last year
they made changes to their existing one and so you can qualify for free
dental care provided your in receipt of Guaranteed Income Supplement - And I think that is taken Norm
from your tax return isn't it so each year you make a tax return and then those decisions are
made from that - One thing we would like to add to this because one of our friends years ago
worked for the Canada Border Agency and he was part of that automated program he was on the team
that developed the automated program that you see at the airport so you no longer have to
fill in that form on the plane in pencil and paper you go up to a booth now don't you and
you answer the questions well to help fund that what they've done is they make that data available
on all Canadian passengers entering the country available to Health Canada to the provinces
and to numerous agencies like the Canada Revenue Agency so if you think these people don't know
wether you are in the country or not you should be quite careful - Yes because they do know don't they
- They do they might not catch you in the first year but they will eventually when they do an
audit - They know wether you are here or wether you are out of the country don't they - So be careful
with these dates especially if your Ontario health plan you don't want to loose those benefits or
having to try and requalify for them those are our critical dates in retirement - And that's a
lot of very critical information there Norm - I know I'm worn out I'm going to have go have a lie down
- We hope everybody enjoyed listening to all our helpful information
- And that you are staying safe - And keeping well - And we will see you on the next video - bye bye, bye bye