September has a way of sharpening things. The kids go back to school, the calendar fills up again, and suddenly the loose, unstructured feeling of summer gives way to something that looks a lot like a fresh start. For many people, this is the moment they realise the year is three-quarters gone and their finances look much the same as they did in January.

Open any financial magazine or scroll through any retirement article online and you will see a different magic number. Some say 1 million dollars. Others say 1.7 million. Some claim you need ten times your final salary; others say six. The truth is that almost none of these numbers apply to you personally, because they ignore the most important variables: how you actually want to live, what you actually spend, and what income you are entitled to as a Canadian.