A firm majority of Canadians plans to work after the onset of formal retirement, mostly for economic or social reasons.
A new Harris-Decima survey conducted for Scotiabank polled more than 1,000 Canadians about their retirement plans and expectations.
Of the Canadians planning to retire, 69 per cent said they planned to keep working. Fifty-seven per cent of these respondents said they wanted to work to remain socially active by doing so, while 72 per cent said they wanted to remain mentally active.
However, the survey also found that 38 per cent of respondents think they will still be in the workforce because they won't be able to afford to stop working.
More than half of Canadians (56 per cent) believe they can fund their retirement dreams with less than $1 million in savings. Twenty-eight per cent said they will need between $1 million and $2 million. The remaining 16 per cent expect that they will need to have more than $2 million to in their bank accounts.
Seventy-eight per cent of the Canadians planning to retire are currently saving money and have been doing so for an average of 15 years. Just over half of these future retirees (55 per cent) have put away less than $20,000 over the previous five years.
While these Canadians expect that their retirement will come from the usual suspects -- RRSP contributions and savings, the government, pensions and inheritances -- a small number of tomorrow's retired persons plan to reap dividends from the lottery (5 per cent) and their offspring (4 per cent).
Comments are now closed for this story
Tom (Ottawa)
Hoping to retire before the age of 35. :D Most people need to work past 65, no doubt about it. This may be due to bad financial planning or just market conditions. I might work on a part-time basis and go someplace outside Canada to spend the winter months. An early snow-bird. ;)
Gerald
Prof. Pye Chart is right on the money. Let's just sit around around and drool once we hit 65!
John G
If you like the work you do and the people you work with why stop? Perhaps a 4 day week instead of a 5 day would be in order or perhaps another arrangement.If you're healthy and able you need to stay active to stay that way.
Gerald
Right on Uncle Pete.I'm planning on working till about 68 or so because I really like what I do, and I enjoy the challenge And the money and I'm in pretty good shape for a 59 year Old guy.If that's not ok with some of you , well you know what to do!
stephen
I find it amazing so few people are unaware that just maybe their employer won't want them after even age 55. Working after retirement (Maybe forced retirement) may not be an option as many simply will not have a job. Forced retirement will occur for many, you may well not get to choose to work or not.
Paul
I don't want to work, but I will have to work until I drop. Most compancies don't have pension plans these days.
Amanda J
I am able to retire from my current position in 10 years at the age of 55 due to long employment with the same employer and a mandatory pension plan. However, my husband cannot retire until 65. So, what am I to do? Sit around for 10 years until my husband can join me? No I can't. So, while I plan to retire from my current job in 10 years I am looking forward to new part-time opportunities and learn new skills. I need to keep my mind and body functioning as I age. Travel and other actvities will be accommodated as possible while my husband still must work but full-time fun is planned after his retirement. no we won't have a lot of money but we can live a pretty simple and fun life.
Ray Fortietr
Here in BC the seniors don't have much choice except to keep on working if they can. With three consecutive years of 10% rate increases by BC Hydro, 6% increases in senior care costs, 3% medical insurance premiums, and the hated HST, seniors have seen their fixed incomes erode continually. Makes you wonder what they use to calc COL increases that amount from 0 to 2.5% if we are lucky. With mathematics like that we'll all end up broke and on welfare.
Caesar
Definitely a case of needing to work rather than wanting to work past 65yrs.
I'd like to know how many major corporations in Canada will allow their employees to work at that age? They will be forced into early via corporate restructuring. They don't want you past 50+ yrs. Certainly was my situation at a major bank.
Retiring outside Canada is a good option but remember you lose Medicare. That's Canada's golden handcuff. Politicians love it. Keeps all the seniors in Canada so they can be stripped of any money that was not previously taxed away.
Good luck to all
Haendler
"55 per cent have put away less than $20,000 over the previous five years." O_o I've put away more than that in just the past 18 months, though I have far from a high salary."...a small number of tomorrow's retired persons plan to reap dividends from the lottery (5 per cent)" So, 5% really do deserve the "tax on the stupid" that is called gambling.
Uncle Pete
Oh dear. What a bunch of spoiled & entitled little brats making comments today. Obviously, these are people who haven't actually had any kind of job satisfaction or who expect to be handed everything just because they were born. There is room for everyone in the workplace if they choose to work. Never, but never underestimate the power & knowledge of those who are in their 50's, 60's & upwards. They know more ways of butt-kicking than you can imagine. I have seen some of them literally flatten a 20-something with a single comment. Perhaps some of you might want to grow up & earn your way in the world.
Coco Lopez
Many of these people who want to cling to their jobs entered the workforce back in the day when all you needed for an entry-level position was a 4 year high school diploma, not a bachelors degree plus 5 years experience. And they weren't hired on contract --- they were full time with full benefits. I've seen this demographic in workplaces still using typewriters, and I don't think the presence of both is by chance. Time to be a patriot, as your parents did, and give up your job so that somebody else can have a chance at making their way in life. Give up that big salary of yours, and let a few young people get hired on to replace you. Remember, we will take over eventually and Soylent Green is always an option.
rikki
I neglected to mention I'm 58 and loving it.
rikki
Hi. I retired Nov 1st. I get 2,443.50 a month clear from a pension plan I paid into for 31 years. Can I live on that? Most certainly. Happy retirement to one and all
RGBrook
I will HAVE to work after retirement. I am a 51 year old, tail-end baby boomer. I have not spent my money like"Crazy" during my life. This government, and the many before it have been ill-prepared for the future. The governments of this country are all too focused on the "now" to get votes. Their pensions are massive and growing, not to mention as secure as secure can be. They work more for themselves it seems, and certainly not for those who voted for them in hopes that this Country would be the world respected country it was when I was a child. I have little confidence in the majority of today's youth in supporting anyone's pension. This "Me" generation attitude is killing Canada and the morals it was built on. Such a shame. I'm glad really that I only have a few decades (at most) left here.
Vic, Thornhill
It's definitely a long road for our Canadians to suffer all the military expenses created by Neoconservatives. $100 billions war money can save how many early retirement at age 60?
RH
As for the young guys wanting boomers to retire - some of us are working so our kids don't come out of university with a huge student debt!! I will gladly "retire" sooner and let the "kids" pay their own way - good luck with that!
Working seniors add to the ecomony which in turn creates more jobs, not less. Would you rather have us retire so the government can increase imigration - then you can compete with desparate imigrunts for jobs and everyone looses!!
Dixie from Alberta
Not sure what some of the people commenting would like us baby boomers to do....just retire and fade away? They don't realize just how much knowledge we have to share and still want to contribute. We also have to keep our minds sharp. I can fully retire only if I win the lottery.
Aaron
Shame on some of you for discriminating against those who choose to work beyond their retirement years.
Everyone has different aspirations as to what they want to do when they are older. Me? I have 0 plans to ever retire. Given my financial situation, I will likely be able to retire comfortably in my early 50's. I have 0 desire to do so and will work until I cannot physically do it any longer.
I want to remain a productive member of society of whom stays current throughout my entire life. I prefer mental challenge and thrive on it. Looking for things to do or performing hobbies that I haven't done yet is not my vision of how I prefer to live my life.
If you wanna play golf all day or become a master woodworker, then all the power to you. Not me, not ever.
Janet
Job squatting. Go volunteer and help your communities if you feel you have nothing better to do!! How are we going to raise Canadian born children without jobs? Looks like we have to open up the immigration flood gates again.
duart maclean
Perhaps if the federal and provincial governments hadn't been consistently looting middle class bank accounts for the past 20 or 30 years, more retirees would be able to relax and enjoy their remaining years. We have a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy and a not-particularly-bright class of politicians who seem to think that the solution to every problem is more taxation. It's out of control and will eventually drive Canada into bankruptcy.
Blake
Want to keep working? Yeah right.
I don't know where this poll came out, but I'd like to know anyone who put away $4000, per year, over the last five years, as savings. I sure as hell didn't and I don't blow cash left, right and centre.
I swear CTV is getting it's polls from the division of Never-Neverland Inc. As for the idea that you're going to save at least a million or two for retirement?
Sure, sounds great for the RRSP salesman...and their scenarios look real good - though I'll bet none of them will offer up an average joe as a reference from the last two or three years - cause you know those people took a beating in the markets and they're not going to be on track for a million or two. Not even close.
Firinn
Everbody settle down. There will be enough work for everyone no matter your age. Dollarama public stocks wil keep rising , so more jobs for one and all . In the future to come ... WIKILEAKS NEWSFLASH....." Jobs will be hard to come by in North America for all ages, says the People of China and India."
Louis-Paul in Markham
I'm in my early 40's. I used to have a small amount saved in a company pension as well as some personal RRSP's. I have had to cash them just to survive. I do not travel. I do not own a house or a car. I don't have the fanciest computer or TV, heck , I got both for free second hand. I do coach hockey so my kids get to play but their equipment is second hand.I do work a decent job but the cost of living is atrocious. I am not willing to pay above $150k for a house. I am not willing to pay more than $0.50 for a coffee.But I have not enough money to pay beyond day to day costs (last day of sale meats...) Retirement is not an option.
Prof. Pye Chartt
Full-fledged retirement is overrated. For too many people, it amounts to a mind-numbing bore that dwindles their "purpose" in Life down to something irrelevant. Countless retirees with average and respectable nest-eggs can't figure out what to do with themselves most of the time. (Television commercials showing two "greyheads" riding a motorcycle along the California coast, stopping into wineries for joyous samplings, and being wild and randy in the evening, don't depict the everyday reality for the majority of retirees.) People are living longer, and maintaining better physical condition than past generations. Not wanting to sit around and play cards with other old buzzards at 65 years of age isn't surprising. This financially secure 40-something family guy has ZERO interest in that "lifestyle." Travel? Yes. Leisure? Absolutely. Puttering around, trying to occupy my time? Nope; no way.
Jim Kane
What I find so crass in some of these comments, is the younger generation telling the boomers to retire so they can have an opportunity. Having a job with a good company pension plan appears to be a thing of the past for many Canadians. That means we will have to work longer. Society has changed because of economic and political considerations. The younger generation has not yet figured out that in order to participate in decisions about our society, it is not a matter of just whiningand complaining---participate in the political process, before our country's landscape changes forever!
Jennifer
I graduated 8 years ago with a teaching degree and have yet to find full time employment because the retired teachers are double dipping the system. They retire, collect their pension and then come back and take on the L.T.O jobs and substitute teach- leaving no room for new graduates to enter the field. Currently there is a freeze on hiring on most boards- I have a solution. Boot the retirees out! They have done their time now let's move on so that the rest of us aren't working 2 jobs to pay our bills and support our families
B. Kelley, Ontario
I'm retired but I still work. No, not for pay and I haven't taken away anyone's job. I volunteer at a local hospital and the only financial compensation I receive is free parking and coffee. The real return is in contributing something useful to other people in ways that regular employees do not have the time to do. There are almost endless opportunities in our communities to become involved and feel a sense of accomplishment and contribution. I highly recommend it as a great relief for retirement boredom and a healthy replacement for any loss of purpose in your life.
DGM
People in my organization are staying past their retirement age due to greed, pure and simple, they brag about how much their pension is going to be,and every extra year they stay past their retirement date they get an extra 2% added to their pension.
Memo: can't take it with you
Mike in Ottawa
It's called avoiding poverty. That's why I'll continue to work until I keel over and die.
Reece
I agree with KC. The baby boomers spent like drunkards never considering the next generation of Canadians. You then complain about the CPP and taxes and the like as if you are not aware of the damage you have done to this country. We should have surpluses by now not debt. You also never prepared for your own retirement never setting aside money for it. Now you want to nest in OUR jobs and want improved health care and maybe you want us to come over and give you a manicure along with your cheese and wine. Your greed is insatiable. Re
Jim-Surrey
The reality is they NEED to work to survive not that they really want to work that long. BUT when different levels of government worry more about immigrants landing here and giving them OUR tax dollars there is nothing left for the people who actually contributed to having an old age pension for when they retire.With all the funds that have been squandered over immigrants with legal fees, housing, medical attention and living expenses that should have been used towards Canadians so they could retire comfortably and not have to work to live past retirement age this wouldn't be happening.There needs to be controls put into place where the different government bodies have to stop wasting our tax dollars on illegals who don't want to follow the laws of our land. They would rather abuse us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sergio, Notre Dame de Grace
1000 is a pitifully small sample of people to represent the current thoughts of a country of over 30 million. No who, what, where and whens about the survey and the small sampling make it pretty much meaningless.
But you know that in days and perhaps years to come people will say "You know what I heard a while ago...". Ughhh!
Personally.....Freedom 35!!!
Bastin5
"Retirement" is a scheme that was invented in the mid 1900's. It never existed before that. When devised the life span was estimated to be 68-69 for males, giving 3-4 years of life expectation after "retirement". We are now arguably living a lot longer and healthier lives and as a result the length of retirement that needs to be funded is beyond the means of many people. Living longer does have implications beyond the obvious.
To belittle those that will not retire in the conventional sense is bizarre given the demographic of our country that has a population bubble ready to pop when the Boomers do in fact retire or die. Be glad for people working longer into their lives, your standard of living depends on it.
To spend 10 - 30 years waiting on the Grim Reaper to call is not what I would call productive or engaging, nor is spending endless hours golfing, knitting or even baking in the Arizona sun. Being with like-minded, youthful (at any age) people and taking a little more vacation time is what I call a retirement.
I'm 14 years from 65 but while I could retire thanks to savings and RRSP and a clear title on my home, I will not retire completely, just retire from where I am now to something less stressful. Like the electrical helper at Home Depot. Now that may be fun...
Colleen in BC
I'll just bet the majority of those who DON'T plan to work beyond retirement age are those with a government pension - which we taxpayers are responsible for. Those hardworking people without government pensions are the ones who will have to work beyond 65 just to keep the wolf from the door.
Dave
Anyone who expects to live on CPP and OAS only, good luck. There are those who probably have in the past but I would think it downright impossible today and in the future. To those who are close to retirement today and can't afford it my sympathy, however, if you did not plan for it and spent yourself into massive debt for big homes, cars, trucks and toys I withdraw my sympathy. For those people who have a few or several years to go, start planning and saving now and forego the image enhancing purchases. For the unions and employee associations start pushing business to provide defined benefit pensions. Many people that I know who opted out or where forced out of a defined benefit pension plan are still working today while others who remained have moved on to daily golf.
Scott-Ottawa
Retire?? No chance... Unfortunately I think I will have to work until I die... Savings are a joke in my household. With the Mortgage and day to day life I see no chance of that happening. Everything I save gets swallowed up by something. I live in the dark most of the time to save on electric bills. I decided to treat myself this Christmas to a $49 MP3 Player. Turns out it can't even shuffle my music for 49 bucks. Retiring is for the Rich...or Government workers...
Al in Orillia
@bwalker, Feeling entitled much? Boy, are you ever in for a life of disapointments! You think the world should step aside for you, but you have to clear your own path and if you fail, it won't be because some senior stood in your way. Government tells us that our immigration policy is based on our need for more people in the workforce! I suggest that there is plenty of work and that the only thing hurting your chances is you!
Archie
Fifty-seven per cent of these respondents said they wanted to work to remain socially active by doing so, while 72 per cent said they wanted to remain mentally active. How about joining a bridge club, gym, or some other form of social interaction and leave the jobs open for the unemployed. To help mentally, read a book. I recently took early retirement and have read more science and technology books in the last 2 months than I have in 30 years. It's not that expensive if you buy good used books.Do something good for your fellow earthlings, if you can afford to retire and live comfortable pass your job on to the youth of our society. I used this as one of the prime motivators to hand in my termination papers hoping that responsible employers will do just that. For every one of us willing to step aside it is hoped that it opens up a spot somewhere down the line. Just maybe that spot may be filled by readers of this article or a family member or friend who NEED to work to survive.
TC
This is absolutely ridiculous! Baby boomers spent their money like it was going out of style. The attitute of not saving enough is going to bankrupt our Country. The fact is that MANY of them want (not need) to keep working becuase then have nothing better to do. Well newsflash...you are distroying future generations with your greed! There is only so much pie to go around and these people are gorging on it! It is a pretty sad state of affairs when people cannot find something better to do then go to work. Please, if you have the money to reitre, do so and let the rest of us try to have as good a pre-retirement life as you did.
KC-bby
I could never understand the people who work beyond their retirement age by choice. There are people in politics, and billionaires, who work into their 80's and I suspect that these people never understood this world and squandered it playing a reality based game. If you havent found passion for life beyond your commute to work on a frigid day then I feel you really missed the point of living.
bwalker
everyone should be forced to retire by the age of 68. just because life threw you some curves or you have been unable/unwilling to save properly for your retirement i shouldn't be held out of the workforce. you boomers who want to keep working or worse yet, "reinvent" yourself in the workforce are limiting options for those of us needing to enter it. those of us in our late 20s are being forced to take minimum wage jobs and move back in with our parents after university because you are taking out jobs, or keeping them from us!!!! get the hell out of my workforce and give the rest of us a chance to start a career and a life!!!!
Jaid in Toronto
To work past retirement for economic reasons is clear because the baby boomers want to ensure that their echo is secure. For those families in which their children are already well off, there isn't much of a need to continue working.For those who work past retirement for social reasons is a more interesting issue, simply because "group retirement" means large gaps in either talent or supply in a certain job market. This area should be looked into to ensure smooth transitioning from the experienced to the youthful.
E.Z. Liven
It comes down to the story about the grasshopper and the ant.Those that worked like the ants and prepared for the future will have a good retirement....those like the grasshopper who didn't prepare.....will have to work.I'm the one third who plans on retiring at 65, and enjoy my old years...not work til I die,just to have a life style that involves having.......stuff I no longer need.
Lho
Those who said work obviously don't know the very definition of retirement. If you continue to work, then you're not retiring. And after working til you're 65 , what retirement dreams are left for you to look forward to if you're broke and not willing to admit it? Saving $20,000 after 15 years?! That's not even one year of income at a $10/hr job. Of course they're going to continue to work after 'retirement' because with that income, you can't justify any retirement dreams beyond the lifestyle they currently live. Surveys like this should look to removing 'work' as a retirement goal.
future retiree - hopefully!
Since when does a survey with 1,000 people provide enought information to extrapolate this to the rest of the future retirees in Canada. This is too small a sample to provide any sound information. Give us real data or keep quiet about it!
CrackerJackLee
This comment on the government's handling of Canadians' retirement has been deleted and expunged due to its crass nature and to prevent any unnatural mental anguish that it may cause to our readers.
Al in Orillia
I love the way these stories make it seem like the majority of seniors have a choice and talk about how investments haven't grown in the last few years! I work in a place where the majority of people there are over sixty five and they're no different than the rest of the population, they live paycheck to paycheck, they spent most of their lives in debt and they're just trying to make ends meet. Government pensions aren't keeping up and most Canadians were too busy living and didn't prepare for retirement. Newsflash! most Canadians still don't and won't be ready when sixty five rolls around either.
geebee
I plan to continue working. Should we encounter any discrimination there will be a size 9 up their afterburner.
5th Generation Canadian
Want to work? Hah! Will need to work if we hope to live above abject poverty.
Helga Laval
"want to work"....lol...I don't think they have any choice anymore after being wiped out by this depression. Is this just a propaganda news story to recondition or brainwash us into acceptance that it will be a common "ordinary" thing to want to work after retirement? It's nice to see how the media is into "social engineering and thought manipulation". B.S. baffles brains.
JB in Ontario
My plan at retrement is to play golf. Yes, the white picket fence and the sprinkler on the lawn may be too much to ask. I'll keep trying anyways.
bikerborz
And what nobody has commented on is that in the next few decades (when I will be of age to retire) there won't be any CPP or equivalent because it will be drained. There are those of us that have given up entirely on the concept of retirement. I'll work until I drop. 'Nuff said.
Teknik
This survey is just a 'news' filler that provides absolutely nothing credible. Most Canadian 'baby boomers' need to work past 65 because they have no choice and if they did they probably would not and instead play golf and bask in the sun. Fact is most don't have the $2 million or so stashed away for their retirement requirements.
Tom Powell
I don't agree at all with this million dollar savings requirement.If you have no active loans, no mortgage, ie no financial obligations, cut down a little on your life style, maybe a smaller home in a smaller community, you can live quite comfortably on a few hundred thousand, your government pensions, and your investments. Spend it, don't save it. The kids are on there own.I am living proof as I send this from our Mexican casita, which we are in for 5 months, to then return to our Kettle Point home for the summer. We still have a new car, and a diesel pusher to go visiting in.I feel no financial stress. Its all good
ROAN
I tried retirement earlier this year. It did not work. I am nearly 59. I found that I did less when retired than when I worked 50 hours per week. So I am back at work now and enjoying being productive again.
Bob Corner
Do people really want to work or do they have to work?The recent recession was a big blow to investors.
David, Mississauga
There will come a point when employers are begging people not to retire, due to an aging population and a lack of skilled workers. And yes, some people will need to work past 65, but there are many who don't need to but want to because they enjoy there work and can still contribute
marvin, Toronto
Has anyone considered retiring in another Country? I will be leaving Canada once I reach 65.I find the cost of living in Canada is too expensive for an older person or someone with limited income. The weather is another reason I'm leaving. If you think Canada is a country for old people. Try crossing a major intersection in Downtown toronto at a speed a normal 65 year old would. You won't make it past the middle lanes. Im 35 and Im already thinking about retiring. Just not in Canada :)
DANIEL H
Yes some of us will end up working till the day we die. Not because we want to, but because our money was spent on lawyers and an exs that won't support themselves.
Yasin
I don't think so there a lot of people wonna retire at the age 50 or 55 but there are some selfish once how say so. After all what is life and how much you can give I think some Canadian started to think the Ledars of the third world. they stay in power till they die never give chance for the new generation. Just of our kids what kind of jubs will they get if we continue in what we do till we die.
Bugzy
the word is not want to but simply need to with a Pm who cares nothing for the people who worked all their lives for a deserved retirement and are now forced to work to provide themselves and their spounces with basic food, medicine and decent health care.
Ben Stolen
Want to work? Or have to work to maintain a standard of living.
ninona
I agree with Don, who on earth would want to work until its time to say bye bye to this planet.
Ike
By not saving when they should have they now need to work to keep up a lifestyle that is higher than it should have been. This will keep younger people out of jobs. I think people should be forced to retire unless they are self employed. Everybody should have a fair chance of a career.
DON
Another wrong survey.No one wants to work pass 65 ,they have to thanks to the CANADIAN GOVERNMENT.Only GREEDY people are willing to work pass 65.
Retired investor
Maybe its time for some form of mandatory private pension plan where deductions are contributed to a special retirement fund right from the outset of ones working career and keep growing throughout ones lifetime. This way we might never need the CPP one day.
Mead
Re-title this article to: 'Two-thirds of Canadians HAVE to work after retirement'. There is a difference between 'want' and 'have'. Who really wants to work after 65?
Evan
Don't confuse "want" with "need".
MW
Canadians should be able to work whenever they want to augment retirement income or just because they want to remain productive unlike these over paid CEO's who will die of a coronary teeing off the 9th hole.
Raymond
More like 'Two-thirds of Canadians WILL HAVE TO WORK after retirement'...
manner
Okay then if you work after age 65 that should be tax free, no EI or CPP deductions. Throw the senior citizens of this country some financial incentive. Clearly not everyone has an RRSP or pension plan outisde CPP.
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