Yahoo Finance Almost 30% of Canadians expect they will never retire, Yahoo/Maru survey shows
For those who do expect to retire, the average age they will exit the workforce will be 60.6 years
As the cost of living soars in Canada, nearly one in three Canadians say they do not expect to be able to retire.
That's according to a new Yahoo/Maru Public Opinion survey of 846 working Canadian adults. The survey found that 28 per cent of Canadians who are currently working say they don't ever expect to retire. Younger workers between the ages of 18 and 34 are feeling slightly more pessimistic about their retirement prospects, with 30 per cent saying they don't expect to retire, compared to 28 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 35 and 54.
Those earning less than $50,000 are the most pessimistic about the possibility of retiring, with 39 per cent saying they expect never to retire. The survey found that 27 per cent of those making between $50,000 and $100,000 expect not to retire, while 16 per cent of those making over $100,000 expect they will not retire.
"No doubt for some it will be because of personal drive and the desire to keep active—but for the majority of others who believe retirement won't come any time soon, it's most likely because they will have to rely on an ongoing stream of income beyond government assistance to support their aging needs and lifestyle," Maru executive vice-president John Wright said.
"But it's also fair to say that with the cost of living and interest rates both having soared, personal debt at now dizzying heights, and declining savings—particularly from the end of 2022 to now—the dream of a nest egg for the future may be getting even further out of reach than previously imagined for a significant group of Canadians."
The poll is the latest to show how Canadians' expectations for retirement are changing. A BMO Retirement study released in February found that Canadians believe they will need more money – $1.7 million – to retire, up 20 per cent from 2020. At the same time, less than half (44 per cent) say they are confident that they will have enough money to retire, a drop of 10 per cent compared to 2020.
The Yahoo/Maru survey found that for the majority of Canadians who do expect to retire, the average age that they will exit the workforce will be at 60.6 years old. The standard retirement age in Canada is 65, although Canadians can start receiving Canada Pension Plan benefits as early as the age of 60, or as late as the age of 70. In 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government reversed plans to raise the eligibility age for Old Age Security to 67, keeping it at 65.
The survey of 846 working Canadian adults was conducted between May 5 and May 8 and has an estimated margin of error of +/- 3.4 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
Alicja Siekierska is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow her on Twitter @alicjawithaj.
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