Nearly 40% of Canadians have access to employer-matched savings programs, but one out of five of them aren’t participating in such programs, according to a Sun Life Financial survey.
Some of the reasons why Canadians don’t take advantage of these matching programs include: “they did not have the desire to do so,” “they did not have the money to spare,” and “they preferred to invest on their own.”
“What this shows is that the industry as a whole needs to do a better job of educating working Canadians about the huge benefits of participating in retirement programs offered to them by their employer,” says Dean Connor, Sun Life Financial Canada’s president.
“Other than these employer-sponsored matching programs, there aren’t savings or investment vehicles that offer a guaranteed return of at least 25%,” he adds. “It’s free money and Canadians should be taking advantage of this benefit.”
The survey found that women (73%) are much more likely than men (65%) to always take advantage of these employer-matching programs.
There were also regional differences as well. Atlantic Canadians (78%) are the most likely to take advantage of employer matches while Quebecers (59%) are least likely to do so.
A total of 1,530 working Canadians participated in the survey, which was conducted last month.
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