Many Canadians don’t choose their retirement date, new poll shows
Roma Luciw, The Globe and Mail
Despite their best-laid plans, a new poll says more than one-third of retired baby boomers did not choose when they left the work force.
The poll of Canadians aged 50-plus with financial assets of at least $100,000, released by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Wednesday, found 85 per cent of not-yet-retired baby boomers believe they will work until they decide not to. But among those who have actually retired, only 62 per cent had that choice...
Roger Mannell, director of the RBC Retirement Research Centre at the University of Waterloo, says that many companies continue to downsize and since older employees often make more money, their jobs are often the ones that get cut.
He questions how many people actually have a good solid retirement plan in place. “Many have not saved enough money to finance the lifestyle they would like to have when they retire,” he says. “Retirement is about more than subsistence. If you want retirement to be successful, meaningful and rewarding, you need to plan for that and finance it.”