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Saving for retirement a financial concern for Richmond News readers

Millennial population says housing affordability is a major stressor, according to a survey
Valerie Leung
Valerie Leung
money
A Coast Capital Savings and Angus Reid survey showed most respondents concerned about saving up for retirement. | Glacier Media file photo

Richmond News readers say one of their top financial stressors is whether they will be able to save for retirement

The Richmond News polled 498 Richmond News readers and asked the question: What is your top financial concern right now?

The majority of respondents, 36.5 per cent, said they are just trying to get by when it comes to their finances.

Meanwhile, 29.5 per cent of readers said they were having trouble saving for retirement.

The poll ran from February 9 to 14, 2022. Of the 498 votes, we can determine that 116 are from within the community. The full results are as follows:

Saving for retirement 36.21 % local, 29.52 % total    
Saving for a home 10.34 % local, 8.63 % total    
School-related loans and finances 3.45 % local, 1.61 % total    
Childcare 0.00 % local, 0.80 % total    
Just trying to get by in general 31.90 % local, 36.55 % total    
I'm not concerned about my finances 18.10 % local, 22.89 % total    
  Local   Total

Lisa Colangelo, senior vice-president of retail banking at Coast Capital Savings, said similar results were seen in a survey by Coast Capital Savings and Angus Reid, to understand the day-to-day financial stressors B.C. residents are facing.  

Colangelo told the News that 31 per cent of respondents to that survey said that not being able to save up for retirement keeps them up at night – making it the main concern for respondents.

Housing affordability and not having enough money saved up were also top concerns, she said.

“The most applicable to the Richmond market is housing affordability,” said Colangelo.

“When we take a look at the Richmond market in particular … we are seeing that sales in Richmond are going down, which means that inventory is getting tighter. This puts pressure on the housing prices.”

Colangelo added this affects the millennial population in particular, with data showing that 48 per cent of the younger population quoting a lack of affordable housing as “a major source of stress.”

The pandemic, she said, has highlighted the importance of savings and preparing for the unexpected.

“The biggest difference in terms of (people’s) financial well-being is when they have an advisor who is providing them with financial advice and helping them achieve those goals together.”

Results from the Richmond News poll are based on an online study of adult Richmond News readers that are located in Metro Vancouver. The margin of error - which measures sample variability - is +/- 4.39%, 19 times out of 20.

Richmond News uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.