Working Canadians are much more worried than retirees about running out of money

Sun Life Financial survey finds that current workers are two and a half times more likely than
current retirees to believe they will outlive their savings

TORONTO, Feb. 18, 2015 /CNW/ - More working Canadians than current retirees believe that they risk running out of money in retirement, according to the 2015 Sun Life Canadian Unretirement Index. Results from the latest survey found that more than one-third of working Canadians believe that there is a serious risk that they will outlive their savings compared with only one in seven retirees. 

While the survey has tracked the expectations of working Canadians over the past seven years, Sun Life Financial expanded the survey for the first time to poll current retirees about the realities of their retirement.

"This really is a tale of two retirements," says Kevin Dougherty, President Sun Life Canada. "It is striking that in today's economic environment, they've developed a view of retirement that previous generations of workers would not recognize."

For the first time since Sun Life Financial began surveying the retirement expectations of Canadians, the number of Canadians who expect to be working full time past 65 has now surpassed those who believe that they will be fully retired. This number has grown over the past seven years as three out of five (60 per cent) Canadian workers now expect to work either full time (32 per cent) or part time (27 per cent) when they retire, compared with fewer than three out of 10 current workers (27%) who expect to be fully retired.

When workers were asked what the number one reason was why they expect to be working at 66, the top three answers continue to be:

• To earn enough money to pay basic living expenses (21%)
• Disbelief that government pensions will be enough to live on (18%)
• To earn enough money to live well (16%)

"No matter your age, it is never too late to take action and look at opportunities to better understand your retirement options," adds Mr. Dougherty. "Especially during times of market volatility, having a financial plan, participating in your pension plan at work and seeking advice can help. At the same time, there are also opportunities to expand the reach of pooled registered pension plans in Canada and examine the benefits of auto enrollment for plans at work."   

For more key findings and results on the 2015 Sun Life Canadian Unretirement Index, visit www.sunlife.ca/unretirementindex. For more information on retirement, visit BrighterLife.ca.

Canadians can calculate their own personal Unretirement Index score, which measures their outlook on retirement, at www.sunlife.ca/unretirementindextool.

About the survey

Ipsos Reid poll conducted the survey on behalf of Sun Life Financial between December 5 and 22, 2014. 

For this survey, Ipsos Reid conducted online interviews with a sample of 3,000 working Canadians from 30 to 65 years of age from Ipsos' online panel. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. 

The precision of Ipsos online surveys is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the survey is accurate to within + / - 2 percentage points had all Canadian adults been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to methodological change, coverage error and measurement error.

An incremental booster sample of 400 retired Canadians were also surveyed. In this case, the survey is accurate to within + / - 5.6 percentage points had all Canadian adults been polled.

About Sun Life Financial
Celebrating 150 years in 2015, Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of protection and wealth products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Sun Life Financial and its partners have operations in key markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda.

As of December 31, 2014 the Sun Life Financial group of companies had total assets under management of $734 billion. For more information please visit www.sunlife.com.

Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.

SOURCE Sun Life Financial Canada