• Most Atlantic Canadians believe they will need to save less than one million dollars for retirement

TORONTO, Jan. 4 /CNW/ - Of those Atlantic Canadians who plan to retire, three-in-five (60 per cent) plan to work during retirement according to a recent Scotiabank study conducted by Harris/Decima assessing Canadians' attitudes toward retirement and investing. The primary reasons Atlantic Canadians plan to work in retirement are a desire to remain mentally and socially active (63 and 50 per cent, respectively). An additional 41 per cent expect to work after they retire out of financial necessity.

"It's interesting to see that so many Atlantic Canadians plan to work during their retirement years, but it's great to see that they will do so to remain mentally and socially active," said Helen Quinlan-Hainse, District Vice-President, Newfoundland & Labrador, Scotiabank. "For the number of people in Atlantic Canada who think they will not be financially prepared to retire, at Scotiabank we understand that planning for these years can be overwhelming for some and we want to help all Canadians invest for their future so they can enjoy their golden years."

The study found that Atlantic Canadians are significantly more likely than the rest of Canadians to think they will need less than one million dollars to fund their retirement (78 per cent vs. 55 per cent), with 40 per cent thinking they will need less than $300,000. Nineteen per cent of Atlantic Canadians think they will need between one and two million dollars and four per cent, significantly less than the rest of Canada at 17 per cent, believe they will need two million dollars or more to fund their ideal retirement.

"The cost of living plays a large role in determining how much you will need for retirement, so it is not surprising to see that Atlantic Canadians feel they will need to save less than other parts of the country," said Ms. Quinlan-Hainse. "While there's no magic number that Canadians should be aiming for when saving for retirement, it's important that Canadians are realistic about how they plan to spend their retirement and how much it will cost."

When it comes to how they plan to spend their retirement, the majority of Atlantic Canadians plan to travel (83 per cent), spend time with family and friends (78 per cent), read (56 per cent) and exercise (51 per cent). Other retirement plans include taking up a hobby (32 per cent) and going back to school (15 per cent).

More than half of Atlantic Canadians (59 per cent) who plan to retire report saving less than $20,000 over the past five years, while only 10 per cent of Atlantic Canadians have saved $60,000 or more.

"We all know that it's important to invest for our future, but with so many demands on our time and money it can be easy to put off saving for a goal that often seems far away," commented Ms. Quinlan-Hainse. "At Scotiabank, we work with our customers to help make their long-term goals more tangible so they can take action and let the saving begin."

For more information about investing for your future, visit www.letthesavingbegin.com.

Let the Saving Begin is a Scotiabank program designed to inspire and empower Canadians to get on track with their saving, investing and borrowing habits.

Built on three simple principles, Let the Saving Begin encourages Canadians to:

• Save automatically, because it works;
• Invest for your future, because no one else will; and
• Borrow to get ahead, not fall behind.

About the survey

A total of 104 completed surveys were collected from a random sample of Harris/Decima's panel members in Atlantic Canada, of which 73 expect to retire. The study was conducted from October 14th, 2010 to October 25th, 2010. 

This was a standard panel survey among a random sample of Harris/Decima's Canadian panel members. In a fashion similar to a telephone study, email addresses from their panel were pulled at random, according to population and gender specifications, in order to make the study representative of the Canadian population by region and gender. When contacted to solicit participation, participants had no prior knowledge of the subject matter of the study. Harris/Decima controls access to the study through passwords to ensure that respondents can participate only once. Subsequent to completion of the study, the data was weighted by region, age, and gender.

About Scotiabank

Scotiabank is one of North America's premier financial institutions and Canada's most international bank. With more than 70,000 employees, Scotiabank Group and its affiliates serve some 18.6 million customers in more than 50 countries around the world. Scotiabank offers a broad range of products and services including personal, commercial, corporate and investment banking. With assets above $526 billion (as at October 31, 2010), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (BNS) and New York Exchanges (BNS). For more information please visit www.scotiabank.com.