Baby Boomers create retirement trend

Comments

Toronto- Retirement is not as clear as it used to be. The generation of aging Baby Boomers are changing all that.

   These innovative, hard pressed workers truly believe they still have years to offer, and they’re not giving up without a fight, according to the annual Desjardins Financial Security survey on retirement conducted by SOM research, Montreal. Gone are the days of retiring with an abrupt stop and never working again for monetary gain.

  
Although, on average, of those Baby Boomers surveyed (workers 40 to 54 years who wish to retire at 58 years) 50% of these respondents think that it will not be possible for them to retire at this age. The key stumbling block they indicate is that they only have 11 years, on average, to reach the amount of savings they believe is required to fund a comfortable retirement.

 The majority of Canadians over 40 years old (92%) thought that retirement at past age 65 would be attainable, and the figure drops to 67% for those targeting retirement between the ages of 56 and 65.

   
"The new reality shows that Canadians need to forget their dream that they can stop working at age 65," says Taylor Train, Director of Business Development for Desjardins Financial Security.

"People need to recognize that longer life spans reaching into the early eighties, on average, will result in a period of some form of convalescence during retirement that requires out-of- pocket costs for medical care. Then one compounds that with the weak financial market performance experienced over the past years, and workers have to face a new reality for their retirement."

    "Independent workers are the future of the work force, particularly as we near 2011 when baby boomers begin to retire," says Paul Thériault, President, Direct Sellers Association of Canada (DSA). "In the area of direct selling, 90% of independent sales contractors operate part time with flexible hours. For those involved full time, the trend is already here with 14% being 65 years and older." Thériault adds, "Surveys indicate that the primary reason for becoming a direct seller is to generate income, followed by other reasons such as recognition and access to discounts on products."

   
Adds Train, "Baby Boomers will create a new generation of progressive retirees as Canadians need to earn additional income to top up their savings or pension to maintain a standard of living that meets their requirements.

  This has become apparent with the rising number of Canadians who are self employed working in new careers." The survey revealed that 61% of Canadians aged 40 years or more are planning a phased in form of retirement, that being progressive retirement. Those wishing to retire, 61 per cent plan on becoming self employed and working 21 hours a week on average.

  Indeed, a record number of Canadians are bucking the retirement trend. They’re making their choices for a number of reasons including: better educated, healthier lifestyles, and more money to make ends meet.

“People are healthier today,” says Statistics Canada analyst Doreen Duchesne. “They live longer. It’s a different society today.”WSN