It's the highest percentage in the country - in Atlantic Canada, for example, just 60 per cent plan to continue working in retirement. In Ontario, it's 70 per cent.
"Retirement to most people doesn't mean stopping work altogether, but it does mean being able to exercise some degree of freedom over what they do every day," Geoff Dillon, senior director of retail and business banking for CIBC, said in an interview.
When asked why B.C. has the highest number of people planning to continue working past retirement, Dillon said it could be any number of reasons.
"B.C. has an interesting story to it. In recent research we did, we found that more people in B.C. in the survey said they are debt-free," Dillon said. "However, of those B.C. residents who had debt, they were also most likely to see that debt as an obstacle to achieving their future goals."
Fifty-three per cent of B.C. respondents said they would work part-time, while nine per cent said they would continue working full-time, CIBC said in a news release. Twenty-seven per cent said they would do occasional consulting, while eight per cent said they would start a new business in retirement. Just one per cent plan to spend their retirement travelling.
"There is an interesting trend here that people who retire are really just transitioning from work that they have to do, to work that they choose to do, or work that they find interesting," Dillon said. "From a financial planning perspective, it's important to look at the income you need to save to produce the retirement income you want, but also factoring in your plans along the way."
Young Canadians - those aged 18 to 24 - were the most likely to say they plan to work in retirement, at 80 per cent. This group also tends to be the most optimistic about how much they can save for retirement, Dillon said.
"Clearly, that's a group that's not operating out of need. It's a long way off for that age group, but it suggests there is a mix of need as well as want or desire," Dillon said. "The view of retirement has changed. The goal is still the same - to have freedom to choose - but the choices people are making are different."
A key finding of the poll is that while only six per cent of Canadians between the ages of 25 and 34 say they think they will retire due to health reasons, nearly one-fifth of retired Canadians say their health forced them to retire (19 per cent).
"When you're looking ahead at the long term, the assumption of younger Canadians is that they will always be able to do something to earn income," Dillon said. "It's really an issue in terms of starting early, because it is possible that you could get to the position in life where an unexpected event happens and you maybe don't have the number of years you thought you'd have to build up your retirement savings."
The telephone survey included a sample of 1,116 employed Canadians and 683 retired Canadians between Sept. 8 and 19. Those sample sizes have margins of error of plus or minus 2.9 per cent and 3.7 per cent respectively, 19 times out of 20.
Percentage of Canadians that plan to continue working into retirement by region:
Atlantic Canada 60%
Quebec 61%
Ontario 70%
Manitoba/ Saskatchewan 73%
Alberta 78%
British Columbia 80%
Canadians across all age groups plan to continue some form of work in retirement:
80% aged 18-24 believe they will work in retirement
65% aged 25-34 believe they will work in retirement
69% aged 35-44 believe they will work in retirement
68% aged 45-54 believe they will work in retirement
73% aged 55-64 believe they will work in retirement
SOURCE: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Working+beyond+retirement+reality+poll/5607867/story.html
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