At the height of investment season, Canadians might be spending more time planning their winter getaways than their financial futures, according to a survey conducted for Desjardins Financial Security (DFS).

According to the fourth annual DFS retirement survey, six out of 10 workers aged 40 years and older (59%) have a retirement savings plan, and just over half of retirees (52%) have a strategy in place for the management of their savings in retirement. However, only half of the respondents in these two categories follow their retirement plan.

DFS suggests most people would rather spend more time perusing tourism brochures and following through with travel arrangements than reading about financial topics and staying on top of their financial plan.

“We know that once people take the time to develop a retirement savings plan, approximately half of them implement it completely,” said Monique Tremblay, senior vice president of the savings and segregated funds division at DFS. “It’s the other half of the group that we’re more concerned about.”

“There’s clearly a lack of follow through. It’s comparable to doing all the planning for your holiday and then intentionally missing the boat, and, more likely than not, ending up with no vacation at the end of the day,” added Tremblay.

The survey revealed that the most popular method for retirement planning and retirement savings management in Canada is do-it-yourself. Half of retired respondents (47%) and 38% of workers say that they were involved in preparing their plan. Financial advisors were the next most often cited source of help in this venture (28% for retirees and 31% for workers), followed by financial institution advisors (17% for retirees and 19% for workers), with friends and relatives in a tie for third among retirees (9% for retirees and 16% for workers).

A third of Canadians manage all of their retirement savings on their own. Another 44% consult with an advisor but ultimately make the final decisions. Only 12% rely completely on advisors to plan their retirement and 10% have no method of managing retirement savings.

CROP and Environics conducted the survey on behalf of Desjardins Financial Security 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).