Working Canadians say that they will be able to save up less than 70% of the amount needed for a secure retirement
In a recent survey by Scotiabank, more than half (53%) of Canadians expressed fears that they might end up seeking work even after retirement due to multiple financial pressures.
Conducted between January 25 and February 3, the study noted that 59% of respondents are nervous of the prospect of losing their financial capabilities once they reach retirement, which most Canadians pegged at an average of 64 years of age.
Indeed, the level of anxiety is high enough for 6% of those polled to confess that they have no plans of even retiring in the first place.
Working Canadians projected that they will be able to gather an average of $697,000 in retirement savings, considerably below their expectations of $753,000 in savings back in 2017 and markedly lower than the $1-million secure retirement benchmark set by financial experts.
These findings echoed the results of a Sun Life Financial Inc. survey late last year, which found that fully 72% of Canadian retirees are finding retirement more financially challenging than they anticipated.
In the same survey, around 65% of those still employed in their senior years said that it’s because they need the additional income, not because they like working for working’s sake.
Around 23% of Canadian elderly admitted they had to significantly dial down their expenses upon reaching retirement age, “following a strict budget and refraining from spending money on non-essential items,” the Financial Post reported at the time.
