Exotic travel during retirement is the most popular dream for nearly half of Canadian workers over 40 years old, but workers shouldn’t plan on packing their suitcases too quickly, according to a recent retirement survey.

Travel takes a definite backseat once people retire, according to the fourth annual Desjardins Financial Security Survey on Retirement conducted by CROP and Environics market research firms.

Only 24% of retirees dream of traveling, compared with 26% who prefer “staying or being healthy”, or the 26% who admit to “having no dreams at all”.

“No other dream has captured the imagination as much as travel for workers,” says Monique Tremblay, senior vp of savings and segregated funds for DFS. “This survey tells us there is a disconnect between what workers want, plan and dream of and what retirees are telling us about their lifestyle.”

“Twenty-six per cent of fully retired respondents say they have ‘no dreams’. Of those with dreams, 47% say they are achieving some of their dreams, while 44% say they are achieving all of their dreams. The remaining 9% say they are acheiving none of their retirement dreams.”

In some cases the dreams are free, such as spending time with family, volunteering or relaxing.

“There is good news about retirement,” says Tremblay. “Our survey indicates that retirees had fewer fears about retirement than workers. Surprisingly only 38% of retirees stated they had ‘no fears’ at all, compared to 20% of workers.”

Adds Tremblay, “And, when it came to other concerns, only 17% of retired respondents list monetary issues as an area of apprehension, while 36% or workers thought that money could be an issue for them during retirement. Interestingly, boredom and loneliness was cited by only 6% of retirees while 15% of workers thought that this could be an issue.”

“Taking health-related issues into account must be a top priority for workers and retirees,” says Tremblay. “Here is something to ponder: actuarial statistics show that 50% of Canadians over 65 years old will need some sort of health-related care, beyond what the provincial healthcare system financially covers.”

CROP and Environics conducted the survey on behalf of DFS between June 29 and July 31, 2005. In total, 1,500 interviews were conducted with a representative sample of Canadian adults. The sampling plan provides proportional estimates with a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 2.5% at a 95% confidence level (19 times out of 20).