The golden years aren’t what they used to be in Canada, suggests a new

study by the National Institute on Ageing.

The number of people who feel positive about aging fell sharply in this country from 62 per cent in 2024 to 57 per cent in 2025, the biggest decline since the NIA survey began in 2020.

“This year’s survey shows clearly that too many older Canadians are feeling isolated, financially stretched and less optimistic about their future,” said Mark Hazelden, interim executive director of the NIA.

The study also reveals declining confidence among Canadians to retire comfortably as

inflation,

debt and rising housing costs bite into financial security.

About one in five of Canadians over 50 who have not retired have saved $5,000 or less, “leaving a substantial share of the population at risk of financial insecurity later in life,” said the report.

The share of those who feel they can

afford to retire

at their desired date has shrunk from 35 per cent in 2022 to 29 per cent in 2025. Those who feel they cannot afford to retire when they want has risen to 43 per cent.

“These shifts point to a steady erosion of retirement confidence, with growth numbers uncertain about their ability to stop working when they choose,” said the report.

“Retirement is becoming a distant dream for many older Canadians.”

Workplace pensions are considered a key plank in retirement security, yet in 2023 only 37.7 per cent of Canadians had such coverage, leaving more than 60 per cent of the population to finance their retirement though their savings and government benefits such as the

Canada Pension Plan

, Quebec Pension Plan and Old Age Security, said the report.

The NIA recommends the government encourage Canadians to delay CPP or QPP so they receive higher payments by offering a guarantee that if the recipient dies before the higher benefits catch up their estate receives a payment for the missed amount.

Canada Revenue Agency

‘s plan to move to automatic tax filing for eligible low-income Canadians would also help simplify a complex retirement income system and get benefits to more people who are entitled to them, said the NIA.

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We’ve heard a lot about America’s K-shaped economy in which high-income earners are driving most of the spending growth and middle- and lower-income earners are being left behind. The worry is if the wealth gains of the top earners slows, so does the whole economy.

There have been far fewer signs of a K-shaped economy in Canada, with lower, middle and upper income groups all showing about the same increase in spending over the past few years, said

CIBC economist Andrew Grantham.

That’s a good thing, right? Not necessarily, he said. As today’s chart shows, spending growth among lower income households rose even when unemployment was headed higher, suggesting that households have been dipping into their savings. Spending of higher income earners, on the other hand, appears too modest, which may be because of economic uncertainty or sensitivity to interest rates.

“So overall, it may not actually be OK that we haven’t seen a “K” shape in Canadian consumer spending,” said Grantham.

  • Prime Minister Mark Carney to announce new measures in Ottawa to make life more affordable for Canadians
  • Canadian Club in Toronto hosts Selling to our Strengths: Unlocking Canada’s Trade Corridors, featuring McCain Foods CEO Max Koeune, CN Rail CEO Tracy Robinson, and Canada’s Building Trades Unions executive director Sean Strickland. The event will be moderated by Business Council of Canada CEO Goldy Hyder.
  • Today’s Data: United States durable good orders
  • Earnings: Steel Dynamics Inc., Nucor Corp.

  • Do siblings need to give their mother their inheritance from their grandparents?
  • Terence Corcoran: Why Canada will eventually join the United States
  • New benefits for borrowers as competition heats up in reverse mortgage space

 

Canadians with regular mortgages have long been able to switch lenders at renewal with minimal cost, but now those opportunities are available for reverse mortgages too.

MortgageLogic.news

strategist Robert McLister looks at the new benefits for borrowers as competition heats up in reverse mortgage space.

Find out more

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Are you worried about having enough for retirement? Do you need to adjust your portfolio? Are you starting out or making a change and wondering how to build wealth? Are you trying to make ends meet? Drop us a line at wealth@postmedia.com with your contact info and the gist of your problem and we’ll find some experts to help you out while writing a Family Finance story about it (we’ll keep your name out of it, of course).

McLister on mortgages

Want to learn more about mortgages? Mortgage strategist Robert McLister’s

Financial Post column

can help navigate the complex sector, from the latest trends to financing opportunities you won’t want to miss. Plus check his

mortgage rate page

for Canada’s lowest national mortgage rates, updated daily.

Financial Post on YouTube

Visit the Financial Post’s

YouTube channel

for interviews with Canada’s leading experts in business, economics, housing, the energy sector and more.

Today’s Posthaste was written by Pamela Heaven with additional reporting from Financial Post staff, The Canadian Press and Bloomberg.

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