Men and women are not necessarily in sync when it comes to planning for retirement and envisioning what their lives will be like once they retire, according to a study conducted for Bank of Nova Scotia.

The study identified several key differences. Among them, men are more likely than women to have thought about retirement planning.

As well, men expect to work part-time in retirement while women are more likely to volunteer, while women want to spend more time with family and friends.

“It’s not surprising that men and women have different visions of their retirement from a lifestyle perspective,” said Trudy Hofley, director, Scotia Private Client Group, Vancouver and Victoria, in a release. “However, it’s precisely because they have different views that it is important to have a retirement plan that takes into account individual needs and reconciles both financial and lifestyle goals.”

The study examined attitudes towards retirement and lifestyle priorities of Canadian couples with at least one partner over 50 and still working and preparing for retirement.

Ten per cent of men and 16% of women admit they have not given much thought to retirement at all. However, when asked what one thing worries them the most, 51% of men and 53% of women indicated some aspect of financial security (e.g. having enough money, cash flow or outliving their finances).

To the extent they have thought about retirement, 44% of men state they have thought about both financial and lifestyle aspects compared to only 34% of women. However, more women than men, 30% versus 26% respectively, said they have only considered the financial aspects of retirement.

With respect to how the genders plan to spend their time once they’ve retired, 45% of male respondents said that they expect to work part-time while only 34% of women have the same expectation. Women, at 54%, are more likely to volunteer or take on charitable activities compared to 37% of men.

On the subject of the role of family and friends in retirement, 23% of men said that they are mainly interested in spending time with just their spouse or partner in retirement. Overall, only 15% of Canadian women felt the same, with 30% saying that it important to have an active social life with a large circle of family and friends.

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 having household investable assets of at least $50,000. A total of 489 couples participated in the online survey between April 17 and April 29.