Among the 52% who say they can’t save at all, or can’t put aside as much as they want, Petrera says the most significant obstacles to saving were debt, their job and employment situation, and lifestyle.
Beyond that, she notes that compared to previous generations, millennials have less access to workplace pension plans. Group plans aren’t often an option for young go-getters who earn income from the gig economy, while millennial workers with full-time corporate jobs are less likely than workers of decades past to be offered pension plans by their employers.
“That makes saving for retirement a self-responsibility for many Canadians, especially those in the millennial age group,” Petrera says. “We’re also facing a persistent increase in cost of living, which 49% of the millennials we talked to identified as the biggest obstacle to their saving for retirement.”
The survey by Edward Jones also revealed that among millennials, retirement savings tend to go on the back burner compared to their more immediate financial goals such as paying down debt, homeownership, or starting a family. This tendency to put addressing longer-term goals on their list of priorities is understandable, Petrera says, given their stage of life.
“Millennials are further from retirement than more senior generations,” she says. “If we assume everyone is focusing on shorter-term financial goals, then Baby Boomers are prioritizing retirement, while millennials are dealing with their now and next, which includes addressing the costs they’re faced with today, and those they’ll be faced with in the near future.”
