Is retirement realistic for millennials? Why they say they need to save more
Millennials feel they need to save more than any other Canadian to retire, a new survey indicates.
BMO’s annual retirement survey, released Wednesday, found Canadians ages 28 to 44 believe they will need about $2.1 million to retire, the highest among all adult generations.
The online survey also found that, for a second consecutive year, Canadians overall believe they need about $1.7 million for retirement.
Higher interest rates and inflationary pressures are impacting Canadians, with 63 per cent indicating current economic conditions are negatively affecting their ability to save for retirement, it added.
“It’s a daunting number for people who are just entering the workforce, who maybe have just graduated from university, with debt or without debt, and to have to visualize the average dollar amount of $1.7 million for retirement,” said Lianne Di Rocco, a portfolio manager at BMO Nesbitt Burns.
“It doesn’t have to be as daunting a a retirement plan if you’re starting younger versus older.”
The survey added 37 per cent of Canadians are putting less money towards retirement savings, while 38 per cent of Gen Z respondents (ages 18 to 27) said they are putting off saving for retirement completely.
BMO’s retirement survey comes a week after Toronto Metropolitan University’s National Institute on Ageing (NIA) released a report suggesting only 35 per cent of Canadians over 50 who plan to retire indicated they were financially prepared to do so.
Some 39 per cent said they did not feel financially ready to retire, while 26 per cent said they’re unsure if they can afford to retire when they want to.
While the needle hasn’t moved much on overall retirement readiness from the inaugural Ageing in Canada survey a year earlier, the
Read more on globalnews.ca
