Nearly Half Of Canadians Expect To Be Working Full-Time At Age 66: Survey

Ready or not, retirement age is coming, but many Canadians may not be prepared for what the future holds. 

A new survey from Sun Life Financial suggested half (47 per cent) of Canadians working today are afraid they might outlive their retirement savings.

The results published Tuesday also found three out of four working Canadians don’t have a financial plan and 44 per cent of Canadians expect to be full-time workers at the age of 66.

The survey, conducted online earlier this year by Ipsos, featured 2,901 respondents. It found 65 per cent of people who worked past age 66 did so because they needed the income, and only 35 per cent said they did so because they wanted to work. 

For years, 65 has been the traditional retirement age in Canada, which is when people can apply for retirement benefits such as the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security. 

Over the past two decades, the average retirement age in Canada has increased , according to Statistics Canada. The average retirement age for workers was 64 in 2017 and 61 in the late 1990s, StatCan reported, citing data from the Labour Force Survey. Meanwhile, the percentage of workers aged 60 and over has nearly doubled in that period, from 14 to 27 per cent.

Sun Life offered some advice for Canadians to prepare for retirement now so they don’t have to work when they’re older. Here are a few of their tips:

• Work with an adviser to manage your finances and save for the future.
• Maximize your savings through enrolment in matching contributions from employers.
• Take steps now, whether they’re big or small, to put money aside for savings.

“Many Canadians don’t realize their employer offers tools and resources designed to help them achieve lifetime financial security,” Tom Reid, Sun Life Canada’s senior vice-president of Group Retirement Services said in a statement. “Investing early and making contributions when you can will pay off in the long run.”