Just 14 per cent of near-retirees say they can retire with confidence and only five per cent say they’ve sought financial advice from their employer, according to a new survey by Deloitte.
A third (31 per cent) of near-retirees said they’ll need to rely on the Canada Pension Plan or Quebec Pension Plan to sustain their retirement and 33 per cent said they’ve considered returning to the workforce to supplement retirement income shortfalls and/or to find meaningful post-retirement experiences. A fifth (18 per cent) said they plan to use home equity to bridge their retirement savings gap.
Read: Canadian near-retirees expect to outlive savings, postpone retirement, finds survey
More than two-fifths (44 per cent) of employees said they’ve dipped into their retirement savings to pay for non retirement-related expenses, while 37 per cent of this group did so because they needed to cover their daily expenses or other household debt.
Among near-retirees who said they aren’t confident about retirement, more than half (55 per cent) said they’ll have to make lifestyle compromises to avoid outliving their financial savings, a percentage that increases to 73 per cent when factoring in unexpected expenses such as health care, long-term care costs and one-off expenditures.
“To conquer these pressing challenges and course correct to reduce the number of vulnerable near-retirees, the financial services sector has a critical role to play in narrowing the retirement gap,” said Hwan Kim, a partner at Deloitte, in a press release. “By coming together to develop innovative solutions and service offerings, we can both drastically improve the quality of retirement for Canadians and simultaneously unlock value for financial services and health-care providers.”
Read: 33% of U.S. near-retirees already drawing down social security benefits: survey