Franklin Templeton Investments Canada’s annual “Retirement Income Strategies” survey has found that members of Generation X (aged 37 to 52) are struggling to save for retirement amid competing financial priorities.
One in four (25%) of Canadian Generation X members have saved nothing for retirement, according to the survey results. As a result, more than half of Gen Xers say they are resigned to retiring later than they would want (56% of that demographic polled in Canada).
The fund company worries that this notion of delaying retirement will be used as a panacea for failing to have adequately saved for it in the first place. What’s worse, the survey found that many Generation Xers are being stretched beyond their financial limits and are in much worse financial shape than their Baby Boomer parents.
Generation X does not appear to be as fortunate as the Baby Boomers (aged 53 to 71) who enjoy corporate and government pensions and bought relatively affordable houses that they can now sell at much higher prices. The majority of Generation X is responsible for funding their own retirement.
The online survey of 2,009 Canadians was conducted in January by ORC International’s Online CARAVAN, not affiliated with Franklin Templeton.
