Canadian Business Wire

RBC Financial Group's latest RRSP poll has found that sixty-one per-cent of Canadians rate the amount of savings necessary for a comfortable retirement as an extremely important consideration in deciding when they should retire.

Fifty-four per cent of the poll respondents said they find health care requirements an extremely important consideration, while forty per cent of all respondents rated both planning where they will live once retired and planning what they would do in retirement as very important.

Surprisingly when those polled were asked how much money they will need to retire rich, forty per cent of Canadians said "it's not about the money."

"Our research clearly shows that Canadians no longer believe money is the only key to retirement success," said Mike Reed, of RBC Financial Group. "A wide range of lifestyle issues including health, home and family are crucial considerations as well. With longer life expectancies and increasing health care costs, it's not surprising that health care requirements have surfaced as a key consideration."

These findings don't mean financial security isn't important to those Canadians looking ahead to their retirement years. Reed enforced that point by saying, "It also doesn't eliminate the challenge of determining just how much money is enough to support their retirement wants and needs. Canadians must also consider the possibility of unexpected financial needs that may arise and are difficult to plan for. An unpredicted health crisis, for example, can have personal, family as well as financial ramifications."

The RBC RRSP poll found that, while more Canadians than ever before are planning and saving for retirement, they're not really sure how much money they'll need for life after work. Thirty-one per cent of Canadians who are not yet retired do not have a specific dollar amount in mind for their retirement, but expect they will be financially ready to retire when they think their savings "are enough to live on." This compares with one in four who believe they will be ready when they reach a specific dollar goal for their savings.

"The traditional approach to retirement planning has been to start with the money aspect first and then build a life plan around it. We've learned from our clients that a more effective approach may be to have a clear view of what retirement looks like first, and then to create a financial plan that matches the needs of lifestyle goals and implement investment solutions to achieve this retirement vision," Reed said.