Laid off at 59, Louie asks how to preserve capital in his retirement savings

Losing a job at 59 lands differently than it would at 40, because retirement is suddenly close and the priority shifts from growing savings to protecting what is already there. Louie wants to know how to keep his nest egg intact through this transition, and the piece works through the levers that matter most at this stage. One is the timing of government benefits: holding off on CPP and OAS, potentially all the way to 70, produces a larger, inflation-indexed payment for life, which can do a lot of the heavy lifting in a long retirement. Another is taking a fresh look at how the portfolio is built, since a standard split between stocks and bonds may not suit someone whose circumstances just changed. It speaks to anyone forced into early retirement who needs to make their money last.