British Columbians may be relying on luck to retire

Three St. Patrick's Day tips to start retirement planning

March 16, 2016, Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – Ninety-six per cent of British Columbians say a good retirement requires careful planning, but 46 per cent haven't taken any of the basic steps to prepare, according to a new Vancity survey.

The survey also found that almost three-quarters of British Columbians don't think luck plays a big role when it comes to their finances. Yet just over one-fifth indicated they are including at least one of the following strategies that involve an element of luck in their retirement plans:

• waiting for an inheritance – 10 per cent
• finding a partner with savings – nine per cent
• gambling – nine per cent
• getting support from children – five per cent.

On a positive note, if given a $10,000 windfall the majority said they would either save it for the future (39 per cent) or pay down their debt (30 per cent).

Here are three tips for kick starting retirement planning this St. Patrick's Day:

1. Stop waiting for that four-leaf clover: There's never going to be a perfect time to start planning your retirement, so get started now by taking one small step like meeting with a financial planner.
2. Beware of leprechaun tricks: Don't let your inner leprechaun trick you into thinking you need a big pot of gold to save for retirement—setting up small automatic monthly transfers to an RRSP will add up over time.
3. Calculate the end of your rainbow: Determine how much gold you're going to need when you reach the end of the rainbow using an online retirement calculator and create a plan to get you there.

Quote

“Whether you believe in luck or not, it's up to each of us go beyond hoping for the best and actually do something to plan for the future.” Fred Chalut, investment advisor at Vancity

Additional information

• Full survey results

Methodology

Vancity conducted a poll of 535 people in British Columbia from March 7 to 9, 2016, using Google Consumer Surveys. Google Consumer Survey is an online tool that collects feedback from the general population targeting visitors to desktop and mobile websites. The results of this survey are accurate at the 95 per cent confidence level +/- 4.3 per cent and statistically weighted according to age and gender to ensure a representative sample.

About Vancity

Vancity is a values-based financial co-operative serving the needs of its more than 519,000 member-owners and their communities in the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw territories, with 59 branches in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Victoria, Squamish and Alert Bay. As Canada’s largest community credit union, Vancity uses its $19.8 billion in assets to help improve the financial well-being of its members while at the same time helping to develop healthy communities that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.

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For more information:

Lorraine Wilson | Vancity
T: 778-837-0394
mediarelations@vancity.com