Baby boomers show some regret about retirement planning, according to a survey by the Bank of Montreal. From this observation, they suggest some ideas to help young people reach retirement with confidence.
If they could do it over again, many Canadian baby boomers (ages 45 and older) would have been more far-sighted about their retirement. According to the study published by the Bank of Montreal, 42% out of 930 respondents admitted that they would like to have started saving earlier. A quarter of them would prefer to have made regular and maximum contributions to their RRSP. Another sign of regret is that 24% of these baby boomers would like to have thought more about the type of retirement they want and have created a budget accordingly.
RRSP and TFSA in mind
The BMO study also suggested some advice for young people in their twenties. Baby boomers urge them to open an RRSP as early as possible and to contribute regularly (59%), open a TFSA and invest the maximum each year (53%), take the time to prepare a financial plan including a component on retirement (50%) and seek to quickly repay any mortgage loan (45%).
Poor planning
The BMO survey supports a study published by the HSBC bank which analyzed "The future of retirement" on the global scale. It was learned there that Canada ranks 14th in terms of retirement planning, behind India and China. In this survey, 65% of Canadian respondent indicated that they had not established a financial plan for their future. The lack of resources and revenues is proving to be an obstacle for the vast majority of respondents who have not performed planning. Conversely, respondents with a plan have raised more than twice the pension assets than those who do not.