Roughly half of Quebeckers are taking basic steps to properly plan for retirement, according to the latest survey data from the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF).
The regulator released the AMF Index today, which measures the overall level of financial awareness among Quebec residents, reporting that the index increased from 58.5% in 2012 to 60.1% in 2014. Those scores are higher for those who work with an advisor (62%) compared with those who do not (52.9%).
The AMF Index (which is released in French only) aims to highlight the behaviour of the province’s residents in terms of fraud prevention, retirement planning, investments, personal finances, insurance, and relationships with a representative.
Notwithstanding the small overall improvement, the latest version of the index shows that most aren’t taking basic retirement planning steps. Only 46% say they have determined whether they have enough savings to retire; and, only about half have taken into account important matters such as inflation (55%) and longer than average life expectancy (54%) in planning for retirement.
Additionally, those who are dealing with an advisor aren’t doing enough to ensure a clear and transparent relationship with their rep. Only 27% of those who use an advisor have asked how they are compensated; 39% have never asked about fees; and less than half are checking registration. The AMF says that it will continue to try to overcome these weaknesses.
“Helping Quebeckers improve their financial awareness is an essential part of our mission to protect consumers and a major challenge. The information gathered from the Index helps us better target our financial education activities to achieve significantly better results,” said Louis Morisset, president and CEO of the AMF.
“By supporting consumers who are becoming increasingly responsible in managing their personal finances, our numerous financial education initiatives, in conjunction with those of our partners, are bearing fruit,” he added. “However, it is important to maintain sustained and concerted awareness efforts because financial education, like many other pursuits, is a long-term process. The AMF has made this a priority.”
The index does say that Quebeckers have improved their behaviour notably in the areas of credit management and personal finances. And, more than half (55%) of Quebeckers rate as financially “knowledgeable” by the survey. However, 31% are still considered ambivalent; and, 14% only have a vague understanding of good financial behaviours.
The survey was conducted by CROP on behalf of the AMF between February 11 and 18 among 1,500 individuals in charge of managing their household/personal finances.