Canadians Expect to Work Longer before Retirement

An increasing number of working Canadians expect pension
reform to occur in the next 10 years, according to an
international survey on retirement issues conducted recently
by AXA Group and reported on by InvestmentExecutive.com.
A high percentage (75%) of Canadians also favour reducing
the tax burden on the retired. Such measures are especially
desired by those still working (81%) and by retired
Quebecers (82%).

Conducted in 11 countries, the survey reveals that 55% of
working Canadians expect pension reform to occur, up 11
percentage points from the 2004 survey.Seventy-five per cent
of working Canadians also anticipate that they will have to work
longer before retiring, while another 70% think their public
pension benefits will be reduced by the time they get to them.

Compared with their counterparts worldwide, working
Canadians are among the least inclined (35%) to assume
complete responsibility for funding their retirement. Most feel
that government (81%) and employers (67%) are also
responsible. For their part, workers in Japan (75%),
Hong Kong (72%) and Germany (62%) are more convinced
that the responsibility falls mainly on the individual.

According to the survey results, working Canadians are among
the most far-sighted in the world when it comes to preparing for
retirement from a financial perspective.  Specifically, 78% of the
working population age 25 and over has begun their retirement
preparations, an 8% increase from last year. As a result,
Canada now ranks third in the world, just behind the United
States(82%) and Germany 84% 

Also, Canadians are preparing for retirement increasingly early,
at age 30 on average. Only workers in the United Kingdom
begin their retirement preparations earlier (age 28). Moreover,
the survey revealed that working Canadians are the third largest
group of savers in the world, exceeded only by their
counterparts in the United States and Hong Kong (once
exchange rates have been taken into account). Canadian
respondents said they saved an average $586 a month for
retirement.

Less positively, only 20% of the Canadians who responded to 
the survey said they could calculate the amount of income
they will receive when they retire.When it comes to saving for
retirement, Canadians tend to prefer safe and diversified
financial investments. Life insurance and tax-sheltered
savings plans remain the most popular ways of supplementing
government pension plans.Some Canadians, especially the
more affluent, are less risk adverse.

One in two Canadians, and an even higher percentage
of the retired (62%), rely on stock market investments
to help fund their retirements.Employer pension funds
also play a key role in retirement preparations, in
particular for retirees.

The AXA survey sample included 6,915 working and retired
people in 11 countries. The survey was conducted between
July 14 and August 21, 2004, by a consortium of polling firms
headed by GfK Group and represented in Canada by CROP. 
The following countries involved were Australia, Belgium,
Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan,
United States, and United Kingdom.

AXA Canada offers a broad range of financial services to its
clients and is a member of the AXA Group, a world leader
in financial protection.