Posthaste: Canadians would trade pay for a pension as interest rates hit retirement dreams

financialpost.com:

Elevated interest rates are an ongoing thorn in Canadians’ sides, leaving them staring at a “bleak” retirement outlook, according to a new survey.

The survey by Abacus Data, on behalf of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), said dire retirement outlooks continue to haunt people, with almost half saying they haven’t been able to save anything for retirement in the past year, while 58 per cent said they worry about not having sufficient funds to retire on.

Even if rates go down “slightly this year,” 61 per cent said they will continue to impact their ability to set aside money for retirement.

“The results of this year’s survey demonstrate that persistently high interest rates and a rising cost of living continue to have a significant negative impact on Canadians’ ability to save and manage the cost of daily life, threatening their retirement preparedness,” HOOPP said in a press release.

This is the sixth year of HOOPP’s survey that asks 2,000 adult Canadians how they feel about their retirement prospects, and the picture isn’t pretty.

Interest rates have started to fall after the Bank of Canada recently made its first cut in four years to bring its benchmark lending rate down 25 basis points to 4.75 per cent.

Economists at Canada’s big banks expect policymakers are on track to cut by another 75 basis points to four per cent by year-end.

“Over the last few years, we’ve seen Canadians struggle to keep up, first with inflation and now with interest rates and the cost of living,” David Coletto, chief executive of Abacus Data, said in the release. “But a small cut in interest rates won’t provide enough relief for Canadians.”

In a sign of how worried Canadians are about their retirement prospects, 70 per cent say they