Do you plan to retire as soon as you reach the age of 65 or do you plan to work well beyond your winter years? Well, a growing number of Canadians expect to put in their 9-to-5 hours past the age of 66, a new poll finds.
According to a new survey from Sun Life Financial, more Canadians expect to work full-time or part-time in their retirement years: 32 percent of adults expect to work full-time, while 27 percent plan to work part-time. Twenty-seven percent reported saying they plan to exit the labor force at that age, and another 12 percent are unsure.
Canadians in today’s workforce are a lot more concerned about outliving their savings than today’s retired seniors: one-third of workers say there is a serious risk of running out of money, but just one in seven retirees worry about this.
So why are those in the Great White North worried about retirement? The study discovered that 21 percent said they need to earn enough to pay for daily expenses; 18 percent are pessimistic that government pensions would provide enough money each month; and 16 percent just want enough money to live well.
“Today’s workers have experienced a prolonged period in which low interest rates, volatile capital markets and a drop in employer-funded retiree benefits have combined to make retirement planning more challenging,” the report, from Sun Life’s “unretirement” index, said.
What’s interesting about the data is that the concept of retirement has significantly eroded since the economic collapse. Seven years ago, the same survey found that 51 percent planned to retire at 65 and just 16 percent thought they’d have to work full-time past 66.
With a substantial amount of Canadians living paycheck to paycheck and only setting aside six percent of their incomes each year, it’s no wonder why the retirement crisis has traveled from the United States to Canada.
The online Ipsos Reid poll was conducted with 3,000 working Canadians between the ages of 30 and 65 in December.
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