{"id":300265,"date":"2026-02-24T20:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/300265\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:24:08","slug":"canadians-now-say-they-need-1-7m-to-retire-many-doubt-theyll-get-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/300265\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadians now say they need $1.7M to retire. Many doubt they’ll get there"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The average Canadian estimates they\u2019ll need $1.7 million to retire comfortably, yet more than one-third feel that goal is out of reach, according to an annual retirement survey from BMO.<\/p>\n

The amount Canadians believe they need has jumped $160,000 from $1.54 million last year<\/a>. Meanwhile, 36 per cent say they\u2019re unlikely to reach that goal, up from 29 per cent a year ago.<\/p>\n

Canadians living in more expensive provinces, with higher housing costs, have even loftier retirement goals, the survey says. In B.C., Canadians believe they\u2019ll require $2.2 million to retire, while Ontarians have their sights set on $1.9 million.<\/p>\n

Quebec residents, on the other hand, are aiming for $1.2 million, while those in Atlantic Canada feel they would need to save $928,000 to reach their retirement goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe findings indicate growing uncertainty about the future as rising costs and economic concerns challenge long-term financial goals,\u201d the bank said in a release.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, BMO released another report citing inflation<\/a> as the top reason Canadians are growing increasingly uncertain about their ability to maintain long-term financial stability.<\/p>\n

Nearly three-quarters, or 74 per cent, of Canadians say rising prices have threatened their ability to sustain themselves in their \u201cgolden years,\u201d while 68 per cent say inflation is already impacting their ability to save and invest for retirement.<\/p>\n

A separate RBC survey found lower benchmarks for financial savings, with millennials citing they need to save $1 million for financial independence, while all generations set that amount at $813,000. The meaning of financial independence, however, was not clearly defined.<\/p>\n

A common rule of thumb is to put aside 10 per cent of one\u2019s paycheque for retirement, according to BMO. The survey found that 21 per cent of Canadians are saving more than this amount, 38 per cent are putting aside five to 10 per cent, and 28 per cent are saving less than five per cent of their income.<\/p>\n

For 23 per cent of Canadians, this looks like saving $100 to $499 per month, while 10 per cent save less than $100.<\/p>\n

An increasing number of Canadians are forgoing the traditional idea of retirement altogether, says Catherine Laurin, senior portfolio manager at BMO Nesbitt Burns, in the survey.<\/p>\n

Instead, they\u2019re planning to occupy their senior years with part-time work, freelancing or passion projects.<\/p>\n

While many baby boomers surveyed say they are already retired, 27 per cent of those still working say they do not plan to stop.<\/p>\n

The BMO survey also found that 20 per cent of Gen X respondents, 18 per cent of millennials, and 15 per cent of Gen Z say they do not plan on retiring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The average Canadian estimates they\u2019ll need $1.7 million to retire comfortably, yet more than one-third feel that goal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,22004,246,111,139,69,244,245,294],"class_list":{"0":"post-300265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-canadians","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-personalfinance","16":"tag-retirement"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}