What is RetireMint? A Canadian online forum shows retirement planning isn't just about finances

What is RetireMint?

But now I have it yours attention, let me add that RetireMint (with a capital M, followed by a lower case ui rather than an e) is a Canadian retirement forum. And it may affect how you plan for both financial and lifestyle aspects of retirement. There's not much risk, as you can try it for free at retirementmint.ca. In fact, there will be no fee at all for retirement planning users, RetireMint founder and CEO Ryan Donovan told me in an email. And there is no advertising. Instead, revenue comes from its Find a Coach tool: a search tool and online directory of experts who can help with users' planning needs. (They pay a monthly fee to be listed on the platform.)

One thing I liked, when I changed it, is that it's not just another retirement app that tells you how much money you need to retire comfortably. It spends as much or more time on the soft stuff of retirement in Canada: what are you going to do with all that free time—travel, part-time, keep up with social media and more.

For that reason, the “beyond financial” features of RetireMint remind me of a book I co-authored with former banker Mike Drak, Victory Lap Retirement (Milner, 2019), or indeed my financial novel, Independence Day (Trafford, 2013). As I used to explain, once you have enough money and you reach your Financial Independence Day, everything that happens after that can be seen as your “victory lap.”

But it's not my intention to link those books here, except to quickly understand where RetireMint is coming from. So back to the program. RetireMint's mission statement is: “To help Canadians retire better, faster and more prepared.” It also bills itself as “Your guide to modern retirement.”

What RetireMint does and doesn't do

Donovan sent me a pdf with some key points of the site, as well as giving access to the software. He also wrote a guest blog on my website in late August, FindependenceHub.com, aptly titled “Retirement needs a new definition”.

There, he explains that “Retirement has become so synonymous with financial planning, and associated with 'aging,' that it is no longer separable. However, in reality, retirement is a phase of life, not a day on the calendar, an amount in your bank account, and certainly not a death sentence.”

Donovan doesn't dispute that financial planning is a cornerstone of retirement preparation, as “you can't even flirt with the idea of ​​retirement without it.” But the story is much broader than that. As he puts it, this broad definition should “break away from the narrow focus of financial planning alone.”

Who is CEO Ryan Donovan? And does RetireMint offer investment advice?

How did Donovan get to all this retirement technology? He didn't become a financial advisor, for example, but worked as a product manager in a wealth advisory office. Therefore, he worked with consultants at the company to design products and communications for retirement planning.