People approaching retirement worry about money, but people who have already retired worry more about their health, according to an RBC Financial Group poll released on Thursday.

The majority (53%) of pre-retirees are concerned about having enough money for retirement, compared to only 36% of those who are already retired. By contrast, half of retirees (51%) say they worry about their future health, compared to only two in five pre-retirees (41%).

“Many people who are approaching retirement focus most on that magic dollar figure that promises a good retirement — but they could learn from retirees who find that money is simply not as important as health,” says Mike Reed, head, retirement and affluent client strategy, RBC.

“The experience of retirees suggests that planning for retirement is more than a money issue. We need to keep it in context by thinking about the other important aspirations that we all have in our retirement years, including our family and health priorities. It’s telling that money is not top of mind for two thirds of retirees when they think about the future.”

Almost three in four (72%) of those in the retirement window say being in as good or better health than their peers was important to them, and women were more apt to think so (76%) than men (70%). Half of those polled (50%) say being financially better off than their peers is important to them and an almost equal number (49%) say being mentally and spiritually better off than their peers was very important. Again, women (56%) were more concerned with being mentally and spiritually better off than their peers, compared to men (45%).

Surprisingly, a majority (57%) do their retirement planning alone, but almost all (92%) want their partner, loved one or best friend to be part of whatever they do in the years ahead. Men (61%) are significantly more likely than women (53%) to prefer to plan their future on their own.

“People don’t always share their retirement plans with their partner,” comments Reed. “RBC’s unique approach to retirement planning, Your Future By Design, helps make these conversations easy and gives our clients a new perspective on retirement.”

Almost nine in ten respondents (89%) spend some or a lot of the time thinking about what they want to do for themselves or their loved ones in the next 20 years. Among those polled who think about the future, approximately two in three (66%) think it is important to have a plan for the future.

The RBC Retiring Boomers Poll was conducted by Ipsos-Reid from Aug. 3-8. The online survey was based on responses from 2,037 adult Canadians between the ages of 50 and 69 with household assets of $100,000 or more.