You don’t have to scroll or surf very far on just about any browser on the Internet to bump into an ad or question about retirement savings. Will you have enough money? Or, how much is enough?
Well, Statistics Canada set out to address those questions some years back and now they have some results.
They started collecting data back in 2014, asking working Canadians whether they thought they’d have enough money to fund their retirement. Back then, two-thirds figured they be OK financially when they stopped working. But now, after being retired, it turns out more than 80 per cent say they’re making ends meet quite well.
When they broke it down to groups with specific characteristics – factors such as education levels, being racialized or having a handicap – the same general trends were evident. Most in these cohorts had lower expectations of their ability to comfortably meet their living expenses after retirement.
But the actual results for these groups also exceeded their original expectations by roughly 20 per cent. As it turns out, maybe we are richer than we think.
