Younger Canadians are getting the message to start saving early and build a nest egg for retirement. In fact, 62% of millennials have started saving for retirement and 46% say they started saving before the age of 25, finds a survey by Tangerine.
Millennials also appear to have their sights set high, with 40% believing they’ll need more than $1 million saved for retirement. To meet this expectation, 63% expect to retire after the age of 60, which is slightly more optimistic than the rest of Canadians, with 74% expecting to retire after 60.
Read: Getting by in the sharing economy
“It’s encouraging to see that many young Canadians have now started saving earlier, to help fund the retirement they envision and perhaps even retire earlier as a result, without having to go back to work,” says Silvio Stroescu, managing director of Deposits and Investments at Tangerine.
Here are some additional findings
- 38% of millennials aren’t yet saving for retirement; 62% say it’s because of a low salary or not having enough money and 23% say it’s because they are saving for a big-ticket item like a house, wedding or travel;
- 59% would only go out once a week to socialize with friends in order to retire before the age of 65;
- 47% would give up takeout food and cook all their meals to retire before 65;
- 28% would work 50+ hours a week for the remainder of their working career to retire in their 50s;
- 43% would give up all forms of social media to retire before the age of 50; and
- 22% would forego contributions to their retirement savings for a luxury ‘must-have’ purchase like a smart phone, concert tickets or designer handbag.