Nearly half (47 per cent) of Canadian employees say they’re very worried about running out of money in retirement, according to a new survey by the Canadian Public Pension Leadership Council.
The survey, which polled more than 2,000 employees, found women (53 per cent) were more likely to be concerned about running out of money than men (41 per cent).
More than a quarter (28 per cent) of all respondents said stress related to retirement planning has had a large impact on their personal health. Roughly a fifth (23 per cent) said this stress has had a strong impact on their career decisions and choice of employers.
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Nearly three-quarters of respondents said it’s important to have retirement income that’s guaranteed to last for their lifetime (74 per cent), keeps pace with inflation (74 per cent) and is monthly and predictable (73 per cent).
Just three in 10 (29 per cent) workers said they’ll be able to retire when they want. On average, respondents said they’d like to retire at age 61, but expect to retire at age 67.
Respondents with an employer-sponsored retirement plan were more likely to say they’ll be able to retire without debt (37 per cent) and expressed confidence in managing their retirement savings (36 per cent), compared to workers without an employer-sponsored plan (32 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively). Nearly half (48 per cent) of workers without an employer-sponsored retirement plan said they don’t have a retirement planning strategy, compared to just 21 per cent of employees with an employer-sponsored plan.
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