Women's Wealth Canada
Women's Wealth Canada
Retirement Isn’t the End, it’s a Redesign
What if retirement isn’t a finish line — but a choice?
This episode begins a multi-part series designed for women who are thinking about — or already living in — their next chapter. I’m inviting you into a more thoughtful conversation about retirement that moves away from rigid rules and toward intention, flexibility, and personal freedom.
In this episode, I revisit some meaningful ideas from earlier seasons — the ones listeners have told me changed how they think about life after full-time employment.
We’ll talk about:
- Why retirement today is less about stopping and more about choosing
- The many ways women live their next chapter — and why none are permanent
- The importance of flexible planning that can shift as life does
If you feel a shift happening — not an ending, but a next chapter — you’re in the right place.
Resources in this episode:
Music by:
Purple Planet Music; Mykola Sosin; Marcelo Moura; Luca Di Alessandro; Fenice artist; Dmitrii Kolesnikov
Hosted by Glory Gray, BSc Finance, MFA
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ANNOUNCER:
You're listening to the Women's Wealth Canada podcast with Glory Gray. Be sure to download and subscribe using your favourite podcast app and ‘like’ us on Facebook.
GLORY:
Welcome to Women’s Wealth Canada — the show where we help Canadian women like you take control of their money and build YOUR life YOUR way.
I’m your host, Glory Gray — Financial Planner and Wealth Manager.
I wanted to acknowledge that we are in a New Year, a time of new beginnings. My yoga teacher, Hannah, shared something with us the other day and when I heard it, I knew I wanted to share it with you. Imagine that you are the main character in a movie. There’s an audience watching you, cheering you on every step of the way. They watched, popcorn in hand, as the story of your life played out on the screen all throughout last year. They experienced your life and now you’ve brought them emotionally to this point in time. What is the audience going to be telling you to do now? They have the advantage of seeing you from an outside viewpoint. They’re screaming something at you, “Do this now!” because they know that if you do, your next adventure is going to be a happy one that they will be thrilled to watch.
What is your audience going to tell you to do now in this new year? I’d love for you to share your thoughts on this in the comments on our socials.
Before we begin today, I want to orient you to what we’re doing in this episode — and in the next few episodes to follow.
Women’s Wealth Canada is an award-winning podcast, all because of you, and I’m really grateful to be welcoming you into our sixth season.
To mark this new season, we’ve created a multi-part series designed especially for women who are thinking about — or already living in — the next chapter of their lives.
Over the years, we’ve covered a lot of ground on this podcast. And listeners often tell me that certain episodes changed how they thought about retirement, money, and freedom — but that they discovered those episodes at different times, or missed them entirely.
So in this series, I’ll be revisiting some of the most important ideas from past episodes and sharing short clips from them.
You’ll hear my voice from earlier seasons throughout this series.
When those clips appear, it’s intentional.
I’m using them to highlight ideas that still matter — and if a particular topic resonates with you, I encourage you to go back and listen to the full episode it came from. You’ll find the episode numbers and links in the show notes.
Think of this series as a guided way to connect the dots — bringing together the most meaningful themes from past seasons in one coherent conversation.
Over the next few episodes, we’ll talk about:
– how retirement has changed in Canada
– how to understand what your lifestyle truly costs
– how to replace a paycheque with reliable income
– how to stay calm when markets don’t cooperate
– how housing and lifestyle choices affect freedom
– and how to make your money quietly support your life
This season is about clarity without pressure — and thoughtful planning that fits your real life.
Let’s begin.
There’s a moment many women reach — often quietly —
where they can feel something shifting.
Not an ending.
Not a crisis.
But a next chapter.
For a long time, retirement was described as a finish line.
You worked hard. You stopped working. You slowed down.
But for many women today — especially women who’ve built full, complex lives — retirement feels less like stopping, and more like choosing.
Choosing how you spend your time.
Choosing what matters more now.
Choosing how your money supports the life you actually want to live.
This season of Women’s Wealth Canada is about that choice.
One of the most important things to understand right away is this:
Retirement today looks very different than it did for the generations before us. Here’s how I talked about this subject in Season One:
“I think we can all agree that retirement today in Canada is different from that of our grandparents and great grandparents right? We live longer. We can choose to work part time because the physical demands of work aren't as difficult as they were 100 years ago. So there's many reasons why it's different. And everyone's experience of retirement is unique. “
That idea — that everyone’s experience is unique — sits at the heart of this podcast.
Because when you’ve spent decades working, raising families, caring for others, and building financial security, your next chapter deserves intention.
Not pressure.
Not comparison.
And definitely not one-size-fits-all advice.
Over the years, I’ve noticed that many women tend to lean into one — or sometimes more than one — way of living in retirement. Here’s some examples of “The Nine Types of People You’ll Meet in Retirement” from Season One:
“The first type is the workhorse. This is the person who chooses to continue working beyond their retirement from their most recent career. “
“Our next retiree type is the globetrotter. This is your retired neighbor, you only sort of know because they're never around, you have a closer relationship with their house plants because you spend one on one time watering all the time, while their owners are traipsing about the planet.”
Our next retirement type is the super hero. Retirement is a wonderful time to give back. No one knows that better than the superhero who is the one to always step up when there's a need. There the one on three nonprofit boards are their friendly face behind the cashbox at the bake sale or learning how the voting machines work during an election.”
What I want you to notice about these different ways of living in retirement is this:
You don’t have to pick one and commit to it forever.
You might work a little.
Travel for a while.
Give back in ways that matter to you.
And over time, that mix may change.
Retirement isn’t about fitting into a category.
It’s about giving yourself permission to evolve.
That permission to evolve — to take yourself seriously at midlife and beyond — reminds me of a story I’ve always loved.
“There have been many women who have inspired me over the years. One of these was Mary Kay Ash. She had been a very successful salesperson but in 1950’s Texas, she was always passed over for management jobs in favour of her male counterparts. So, she decided to go out on her own and start a company alongside her husband and son.
One week before they were to open, her husband, who was also her Chief Financial Officer, died of a massive heart attack at their breakfast table. Mary Kay faced a decision. She was 45 years old. She knew nothing about the financial aspects of running a business. Should she give up this dream of starting a company from scratch or should she go ahead and take a chance, possibly ruining not only her own financial future but her son’s as well. She and her son took the chance and the rest is history. They went on to build Mary Kay Cosmetics into the thriving multi-billion dollar company that is still owned by her family today.
She was always dispensing gems of wisdom and motivation to her sales force. One of the ones I love most is this:
"Until a girl is 14, she needs good health and good parents. From age 14 to 40, she needs good looks. From 40 to 60, she needs a good personality. After 60, I’m here to tell you, what a girl needs is cash."
Mary Kay’s story isn’t really about building a cosmetics company.
It’s about trusting yourself enough to move forward — even when the next step isn’t perfectly clear.
And for many women, that kind of courage doesn’t show up as bold risk-taking.
It shows up as the desire for clarity.
For steadiness.
For knowing where you stand.
That all requires courage.
One of the most practical — and compassionate — things you can do when planning this next chapter is to leave space for change. Here’s how we talked about this in Season One:
“Now for a bit of a reality check. Even with your best intentions. You may not end up doing what you thought you were going to do in retirement anyway, so leave space in your plans for changes when you get to retirement.
[...] In my experience, most people will find their lives in retirement changing quite a bit every five years. Sometimes it's because there's been a change in their families like suddenly your son is triplets and you want to move nearer to your grandchildren. But the main reason I see change every five years is for something entirely different that we have some control over and that is our health. If you're not healthy. You're not going to enjoy your retirement as much, so get healthy as best you can.
[...] You may want to take the time to ease into retirement, test your ideas, put a plan into action to see how it works.”
So, just know that you don’t need a perfect plan.
You need a flexible one.
One that can shift as your life shifts.
One that supports you — rather than traps you.
Over the next few episodes, we're going to revisit some of the ideas listeners most often tell me changed how they think about money, retirement, and freedom.
We’ll talk about how to understand what your life actually costs.
We’ll talk about how to replace a paycheque with reliable income.
We’ll talk about how to stay calm when markets don’t behave.
And we’ll talk about how to design a life that feels lighter — financially and otherwise.
If you’re at a place where you feel a next chapter forming,
but you’re not quite sure how that will look yet,
just know this:
You don’t have to have it all figured out at once.
…And you don’t have to do it alone.
I’m glad you’re here.
Thanks for listening.
ANNOUNCER:
This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice. It is not an offer to sell or buy or an endorsement, recommendation or sponsorship of any entity or security cited. Mutual funds offered through Portfolio Strategies Corporation. Other products and services provided through Glory Gray Wealth Solutions.
Music by:
Purple Planet Music
Mykola Sosin
Marcelo Moura
Luca Di Alessandro
Fenice artist
Dmitrii Kolesnikov
