Can’t afford to retire at 65, say Canadians

Most Canadians expect to work past the age of 66 — and the majority of those workers say it will be because they need to, not because they want to, a new survey suggests.

As the federal government tries to sell Canadians on changes to Old Age Security, a survey by Ipsos Reid for Sun Life Financial has found that only 30 per cent of Canadians expect to be fully retired at 66.

Those expectations come as Ottawa plans to tinker with Canadians’ social safety net. There has been speculation the Conservative government will push back the qualifying age for Old Age Security to 67 from 65.

The Ipsos Reid survey released Wednesday showed that among respondents who said they expect to keep working, 61 per cent will do so because they need to.

“These results are not surprising given the current economic volatility, increasing consumer debt loads, rising healthcare costs, longer life expectancy and lack of planning,” said Sun Life Financial Canada president Kevin Dougherty. Concerns about the economy were prevalent among those surveyed. Nearly half — 47 per cent — said they are worried about the debt they’ll be dealing with as retirees. Many said they’re expecting retirement to be something they enter gradually, rather than simply giving up their careers all at once.

Of those surveyed, 43 per cent said they’ll start to phase in retirement between the ages of 60 and 65, working part-time or freelance before they fully give up work.

Twenty-one per cent said they hoped to start retirement between the ages of 50 and 59. But there were eight per cent who only expected to start pulling back from work between the ages of 66 and 70.

“Baby boomers are looking at [phasedin retirement] as a way to prolong their careers, pay off some debts and make a smooth transition into retirement,” said Ian Markham of human-resources firm Towers Watson.