Traditional dreams of quitting the rat race cold by age 65 are changing, says a retirement study.
Instead, says the annual Desjardins Financial Security survey, Canadian retirees age 65 and up face a new reality – progressive retirement.
Once again, this is a process being defined by the baby boomer cohort. The survey revealed that 61 per cent of Canadians aged 40 years or more are planning a phased-in form of retirement. Of those wishing to retire, 61 per cent plan on becoming self-employed and working 21 hours a week on average.
While inactivity is the main reason cited for progressive retirement (83 per cent), having additional income (75 per cent) and other safety nets such as insurance and social benefits (51 per cent) are also important to those entering retirement.
Other reasons cited for progressive retirement include:
* To maintain standard of living for a while, 82 per cent.
* To do some worthwhile activities, 79 per cent.
* To ensure continuity of the job, 43 per cent.
* To have a job they wanted for a long time, 34 per cent.
The new retirement landscape demands more than putting money aside for day-to-day living, says Desjardins’ Taylor Train.
“People need to recognize that longer lifespans reaching into the early 80s, on average, will result in a period of some form of convalescence during retirement that requires out-of-pocket costs for medical care. Then one compounds that with the weak financial market performance experienced over the past years, and workers have to face a new reality for their retirement.”
On the flipside, employers need to rethink how to create an inter-generational transfer of skills, adds Train.
Of those surveyed, 71 per cent support the upcoming changes to fiscal laws that allow Canadians to work beyond the age of 65, while continuing to receive their old-age pension.
SOM, a marketing and research company based in Montreal, conducted the survey. The sampling plan has a maximum margin of error of ±2.6 per cent at a 95-per-cent confidence level.
