Inflation appears to be changing the way we look at retirement.
Rising prices coupled with higher interest rates has many of us looking closely at our monthly budgets but the psychology of increased living cost is tempering our view of what we will need to fund our retirement as well.
A survey by BMO Bank of Montreal found Canadians believe they will require $1.7 million to finance a comfortable retirement. Two years ago, they thought $1.4 million would be enough. In other words, inflation concerns are rising faster than the actual cost of living.
Fewer than half of us think we will hit the $1.7 million benchmark and while the bank’s experts feel the new number is probably high, there’s a big gap to bridge as the average Saskatchewan resident has $138,000 in RRSP holdings, less than 10 per cent of the revised target.
Nonetheless, we are not postponing our retirement date with the majority saying they will pack it up while in their 60s with age 62 cited most frequently.
