Question: if you continue working during retirement then have you actually retired? Whatever the answer, most Canadians plan to do so.  According to a recent study conducted by Harris/Decima on behalf of Scotiabank, nearly 70% of Canadians intend to work after retirement.

On Tuesday, I was interviewed by Havard Gould, for a segment on the Scotiabank study which appeared on CBC’s the National.  The piece also featured Don MacFarlane who, after having enjoyed a successful career in pharmaceuticals, retired and now spends his time working at Rona.  It’s not that he needs the money, he just enjoys keeping active. 

And he’s not alone – of those surveyed who plan to keep working, 72% cited the desire to remain mentally active and 57% cited a desire to stay socially connected as reasons for staying in the work force.  Still, while working because you want to sounds nice, there are also obvious financial benefits: 38% of those surveyed cited financial necessity as the reason they’d continue working. 

Saving for retirement is an obvious concern.  75% surveyed reported having been saving for about 15 years and, of those people, more than half had saved less than $20,000 in the past five years.

So, how much do you need saved before retiring? Well, there’s no magic number – it will depend in large part on an individual’s specific circumstances and the lifestyle they wish to lead.  However, Jonathan Chevreau, whose column, the Wealthy Boomer, appears in the Financial Post, recently looked a four different scenarios and estimated what a married couple would need to save in each in order to retire.  The message? No matter your lifestyle, it’s time to get saving – Chevreau figures that even a couple who plans to live a frugal, bare bones existence should have about $300,000 put away.