News Releases
When it comes to retirement planning, boomers in B.C. face a challenging predicament; they want to enjoy a long retirement, but they aren't taking the steps to ensure they can afford it.
According to a survey of Canadians aged 45 – 60 conducted for BMO Financial Group by Ipsos Reid, more than half of B.C. boomers don't have a written financial plan, with 27 per cent indicating that their plans are “in their heads”, while 30 per cent admitted that they don't have a plan at all. In fact, 28 per cent said they are “hoping for the best”.
Nonetheless, B.C. boomers think they'll spend more time in full retirement than boomers elsewhere across the country. Twenty-three per cent think they'll spend more than 20 years in retirement, compared to 18 per cent of other Canadian boomers and 19 per cent of B.C. boomers think they'll spend between 15-20 years retired compared to 15 per cent of their fellow boomers.
When asked what they're currently saving or planning for, only 60 per cent of B.C. boomers said retirement, compared to the national average of 66 per cent. B.C. respondents said they are also saving for “the unexpected” (46% of B.C. boomers vs. 44% of national boomers), travel (33% vs. 31%), children's education (16% for B.C. and nationally), parent's healthcare (3% vs. 2%), philanthropy (6% vs. 5%) and twelve per cent of B.C. boomers didn't know what they are saving for compared with 11 per cent of their Canadian counterparts.
B.C. boomers are also no different than their fellow boomers when it comes to RSPs; 30 per cent don't have a registered retirement savings plan, despite the fact that in an earlier BMO-Ipsos Reid study, 81 per cent of Canadian boomers agreed that they wished they had started earlier, even in their teens, to save for retirement and 91 per cent agreed that having enough money for retirement requires a lot of planning and advice to reach your goals.
“While boomers acknowledge that planning is important, it appears that most are reluctant to plan for something that is perceived to be so far down the road, especially when they have many other priorities to deal with,” said Trish Vale, Regional Sales Manager, BMO Mutual Funds.
Many B.C. boomers said they are spending more time planning other activities than planning for their retirement. Fifty-three per cent said they spend more time planning exercise, 48 per cent on diet, 39 per cent on car maintenance, 44 per cent on home renovations and 48 per cent are spending time planning their travel over planning their retirement.
“Retirement represents uncharted territory for boomers - so it's all the more important for them to start considering a variety of contingencies and lifestyle choices today. Whether they plan to continue working through their traditional retirement years, volunteer or hit the road and travel around the world, we need to help them conceptualize what they want their retirement to look like so that they can plan ahead to fund the lifestyle they want to enjoy in the future,” added Vale.
Additional research findings –
Do you spend more time planning for these activities than planning for retirement?
|
Activity |
Average |
BC |
AB |
SK/MB |
ON |
QC |
ATL |
|
Exercise |
49% |
53% |
46% |
54% |
48% |
50% |
50% |
|
Diet |
47 |
48 |
44 |
60 |
50 |
39 |
52 |
|
Car |
33 |
39 |
27 |
42 |
33 |
29 |
33 |
|
Renos |
46 |
44 |
37 |
55 |
48 |
42 |
57 |
|
Travel |
43 |
48 |
40 |
42 |
43 |
43 |
39 |
What do you think would most appeal to you at age 62?
|
Activity |
Average |
BC |
AB |
SK/MB |
ON |
QC |
ATL |
|
Conventional retirement |
76% |
73% |
68% |
71% |
74% |
83% |
83% |
|
Volunteer |
49 |
50 |
50 |
61 |
45 |
47 |
67 |
|
Consult |
31 |
31 |
35 |
31 |
31 |
32 |
19 |
|
Start business |
19 |
18 |
23 |
20 |
22 |
10 |
20 |
|
Cycle south of |
18 |
17 |
16 |
11 |
19 |
22 |
9 |
|
Climb |
9 |
11 |
8 |
7 |
10 |
8 |
3 |
Full results available upon request.
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