Millennials not saving enough for retirement, poll finds

TORONTO — Many Canadian workers could be in financial trouble when retirement rolls around, according to a survey on finances.

A Leger survey, commissioned by Oaken Financial, found that millennials are having difficulty putting money aside for retirement.

The three main reasons? Canadians between the ages of 18-34 blamed the high cost of living (54 per cent), financial strain from raising kids (47 per cent) and student loans (40 per cent).

“Based on the survey, (millennials) seem to be having trouble … saving for their retirement or delayed savings,” said Melanie Dixon, vicepresident of deposits at Home

Trust — Oaken Financial’s parent company. “And it was attributed to a few factors.” And they weren’t alone. Half of the respondents from Generation X (35-54) also said the cost of living had forced them to start saving for their retirement later. The cost of raising kids was also a concern for nearly two-fifths of Gen Xers (38 per cent), but student debt was an issue for less than a quarter of them (24 per cent).

Meanwhile, only 36 per cent of baby boomers’ (55+) retirement savings were affected by the cost of living and the other two factors were a concern for even fewer of them: raising children (15 per cent) and student debt (9 per cent).

Dixon said another surprising result was that almost one-third of millennial respondents (29 per cent) are part of what’s called the “sandwich generation” — having to financially support both their children and parents.

“We used to hear the sandwich generation being more synonymous with the baby boomers, especially given that people are living longer and longer,” Dixon explained. “But now, according to the survey, we see that there’s a shift.