About one in six Canadians expects to be unable to afford to retire fully, according to a study.
Of the 15 countries surveyed in the HSBC study, Canada had one of the largest proportions of workers who thought this, just behind the United Kingdom (19%) and the United States (18%). The global average was 12%.
Encouragingly, 54% of today’s retirees said that their preparations for retirement turned out to be at least adequate.
That said, 40% of retired Canadians said that they had not prepared adequately or at all for a comfortable retirement, and 4% of those retirees said they would have to go back to work to cover their financial shortfall, compared with 14% globally.
The findings are bleak for those living alone in retirement, with 24% of those who are divorced or separated saying they don’t think they will ever retire, compared with 20% globally.
However, it’s not all bad news, as many semi-retired Canadians cited largely positive reasons for staying in the workforce. For example, 47% of respondents say they would like to keep active physically and mentally, 41% say they like working, and 35% say they feel it will ease the transition into retirement.
“People want to slow down in later life, and, while some welcome the chance to continue working, many may not,” says Betty Miao, HSBC Bank Canada’s executive vice-president, retail banking and wealth management. “Where some people regard a comfortable retirement as a natural entitlement, for a growing number this is not the case.”
The study suggests that even those who have retired may not be able to achieve the retirement they want. Fifty-four percent of retired people surveyed in Canada who said they have been unable to realize their plans for retirement believed this was because they have less money to live on than they had expected.
Of those who have less money than envisaged to realize their aspirations, 74% regret they didn’t save more.
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