Canadians' retirement savings goal of $1.7 million increasingly unattainable, BMO survey finds. In some provinces, the retirement savings hill is even higher. Canadians' belief in their ability to reach their goal is falling, with 36 per cent admitting they don’t expect to attain their target, up from 29 per cent in 2024. Many people also failed to hit the benchmark of putting aside 10 per cent of their income for retirement, BMO said. Nearly three in 10 said they saved less than five per cent, while nearly four in 10 saved five per cent to 10 per cent. Just 21 per cent managed to set aside more than 10 per cent. But retirement isn’t for everyone, as 14 per cent of respondents indicated they planned to keep working. On a generational basis, 27 per cent of boomers who weren’t already retired said they planned to stay in the workforce, compared with 20 per cent of gen-Xers, 18 per cent of millennials and 15 per cent of gen-Zers. Another study echoed BMO’s findings that Canadians are skeptical of being able to set aside enough for retirement. Nearly half of Canadians saving for retirement are putting aside as much as they can afford into their workplace pension plans, but just 41 per cent think they will end up with enough to comfortably retire, said a survey by T. Rowe Price Group Inc. The asset manager released its survey about the retirement planning and intentions of more than 7,000 people in five countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan and Australia. Also similar to BMO’s survey, some Canadians said they planned to continue working, rather than retire, with 30 per cent of those 50 and older expecting to continue punching the clock at least part time compared to 18 per cent of those aged 35-49 and 12 per cent of those aged 18-34. It also said a majority of Canadians reported experiencing moderate to high levels of stress when it came to saving for retirement.
