Millions of Canadians are gambling with retirement funds

A new report reveals behaviour of investors aged 45+

Millions of Canadians are gambling with retirement funds
Steve Randall
Increasing home values will be a necessity for millions of Canadians according to a report from the OSC.

The report, prepared for the commission by Innovative Research Group, looks at the behaviour of investors aged 45+ and found that among the 75% who are homeowners, 37% are relying on home values increasing to fund their retirement.

Among the pre-retirement group (45-54 years old) the share of those who need their homes to fund their retirement is 45%.

The larger the mortgage, the more important rising home values are to retirement funds, with 83% of those owning $500K+ relying on appreciating equity.

“Owning a home is not a substitute for retirement planning,” said Tyler Fleming, Director of the Investor Office. “Research like our Investing As We Age study is key to improving our understanding of investor needs and issues. It provides important, evidence-based inputs into the OSC’s policy development and our investor education and outreach.”

While retirement is the top financial concern of those polled for the study, Ontarians 45+ are concerned about having enough money to pay for the cost-of-living today (13%), paying off or managing debt levels (10%) and investment performance, growth and protecting capital (9%).

Gender gap on investment knowledge

The report reveals that 39% of respondents say that have good or excellent knowledge of investing but women (27%) are less confident in their knowledge than men (51%).

Women are more likely to use a financial advisor (69%) than men (62%) but overall 65% of Ontarian investors do.

Men are more likely than women to invest without advice with 32% of men and 17% of women currently using an online discount brokerage.

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