Almost 60% of mature Canadians have not thought through most aspects of retirement according to the study conducted for Bank of Nova Scotia.

“We commissioned this study to better understand the degree to which mature Canadians had planned for all aspects of their retirement, including financial and lifestyle priorities,” says Bruce Teron, managing director and head of strategy development and retirement programs, Scotiabank. “What we found was that while Canadians entering the transition to retirement have taken some steps towards planning for this stage of their lives, there is still some work to do.”

Of the mature Canadians surveyed, 39% indicate they have thought about most aspects of retirement, including financial and lifestyle matters. Fifty-nine per cent have not planned for both elements — 28% have focused on the financial side, and 20% have given more thought to their lifestyle after retirement than their finances. Thirteen per cent still haven’t given retirement much thought.

The study looked at Canadian couples with at least one partner aged 50 or over who is still working and examined attitudes and planning for post-retirement as well as financial and lifestyle priorities.

Over half of Canadians surveyed expect that both they and their spouse or partner will fully retire from the workforce before the “traditional age” of 65. The average anticipated age for both partners is 62 years of age. On the one hand, 20% of mature Canadians indicated that they plan to work beyond the age of 65, but at the same time about one-third believe they will fund their retirement income through continued employment. This figure jumps to 76% if Canadians do not have sufficient money to fund their retirement.

The vast majority (85%) of Canadian pre-retirees feel confident in their ability to retire comfortably, driven largely by the belief that they have sufficient savings and investments. At the same time, 31% of pre-retirees confessed that they did not know what percentage of their pre-retirement income they would need post-retirement. Of the 69% of people who were able to answer that question, on average they thought they would need approximately 68.5% of their pre-retirement income.


More than half of mature Canadians are anticipating that their lives will change a great deal after retirement and when thinking about what they want their life to look like, 81% say travel is their number one choice of how they plan to use their time. This is followed by spending time with family and friends (69%) and pursuing hobbies (66%).

The Couples Retirement Study was conducted for Scotiabank using TNS Canadian Facts’ online panel. Respondents for the survey were couples that are married or in a common-law relationship, with at least one partner aged 50 or over and working full-time, and household investable assets of at least $50,000. A total of 489 couples participated in the online survey between April 17 and April 29. Final data are weighted to be geographically representative of couples’ families.