Canadians are looking at a future of working beyond the traditional retirement age and stashing away more savings in order to maintain their standard of living, the former Bank of Canada governor said in a speech Saturday.
David Dodge was speaking to federal Liberals who have gathered in Montreal for a three-day public policy conference, featuring what the party says are 53 "leading thinkers and doers."
"Middle- and upper-income Canadians now in their prime earning years are both going to have to save more and expect to retire later in life than they'd hoped to do," Dodge said.
Most Canadians, he added, are not financially prepared for retirement.
Dodge said Canadians need to save between 10 and 22 per cent of their pre-tax incomes each year — if they save consistently for 35 years — to have comfortable retirement incomes.
For example, someone making $42,000 a year needs to save at least 11 per cent of his or her income every year in order to retire comfortably at the age of 65. The percentage increases for higher income-earners.
Demographics and labour expert Rick Miner predicted a shortage of skilled labour and a heavier burden on the health-care system.
"The time for action is now. Without change, this is our future. It's not going to be a pleasant one: millions of people without jobs and millions of jobs without people."
Miner said by 2017, retired baby boomers will leave society with higher health-care costs and a smaller tax base. At the same time, he said Canada's workforce will not be trained for a new knowledge economy.
Among his proposals, Miner said university students should attend classes through the summer in order to graduate sooner, and Canadians should do a better job of integrating immigrants, people with disabilities and aboriginal people into the workforce.
Former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna said governments in Canada should focus more on preventive health policies. He recommended an "aggressive public relations campaign and education campaign" focusing on ways to stay healthy.
"We are an obese nation now," he said, adding Canadians don't exercise enough and consume too much sodium.
James Morton
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4 comments:
> Canadians need to save between 10 and 22 per cent of their pre-tax incomes each year — if they save consistently for 35 years — to have comfortable retirement incomes.
Yeah.
For the vast majority of us - including me - that's just not going to happen.
Instead of moaning about what Canadians should do (or, in some cases, should have done back when they were unemployed in the 80s), a more forward-looking approach would be to consider ways to allow the elderly can contribute meaningfully to society, thus earning a reasonable income.
When the Liberals were in office we saw massive cutting of transfers to the provinces for Health, Education and Social Services, the raiding of the pensions of the Public Service, the RCMP and the Military, the illegal appropriation of some $54 Billion Dollars paid by workers and their employers into EI, myriad scandals involving graft and corruption by the Liberal Party, the most notable being ADSCAM, and one of the most infamous quotes coming from Justice Gomery saying of the Liberal Party, 'they are criminally organized”.
The Liberal Party is toast, there is no way back.
And now they suggest a national carbon tax?
And when will they pay back that missing $40 Million from ADSCAM?
What about the $162 Million Taxpayer Dollars Paul Martin's CSL received while he was Finance Minister?
David Dingwall, "I'm entitled to my entitlements".
Why doesn't someone ask those people who are already retired trying to live on OAS in Canada what it is like. The poor baby boomers....oh,oh,oh!! If you think for one minute it is easy for those retired now in this country ...THINK AGAIN. They are already where you think the poor baby boomers will be when they retire.
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