Almost three quarters of Canadians have “delayed” major financial goals or milestones due to the “current economic climate,” according to new survey data commissioned by the online estate planning platform Willful and collected by the Angus Reid Forum.
Nearly half of respondents said they’ve “had to use savings to cover day-to-day expenses” over the last 12 months, while 42 per cent of Canadians say they’re in a worse financial situation now than they were at the beginning of the year.
Similarly, 86 per cent of respondents reported feeling concerned about the impact of inflation on their financial goals.
The continued economic pessimism is one of the survey’s most notable findings, said Erin Bury, the CEO and co-founder of Willful.
“That kind of stuck out to me because we’ve had all these indicators this fall that things are getting better, not worse,” Bury said. “But it seems that folks are still feeling squeezed and still feeling that sense of pessimism.”
Canadians are postponing taking vacations, paying off debt, saving for the future, buying a car and doing home renovations or projects, among other financial goals and priorities, the report noted.
The survey also found that 26 per cent of young families have experienced an increase in household expenses, while more than eight in 10 parents with young children have delayed financial “to-dos,” which include paying off debt, getting a will or power of attorney documents and opening or contributing to a TFSA or RRSP.
Despite current economic gloom, forward-looking planning is possible with cost-effective, online tools and services that are more accessible than traditional methods, Bury noted, including Wealthsimple and her own platform, Willful.
“There are alternatives to the traditional, pricey methods for doing things like investing or getting legal documents or insurance in place,” Bury said. “I think the message that I have is you don’t have to sacrifice your future financial security and the security of your family for making it work today.”
The findings are based on survey responses from 1,000 Canadians over the age of 18 collected during September and October.
Andrew Dobson, a certified financial planner at Objective Financial Partners, said that being flexible and making small adjustments to spending habits can help weather uncertain financial storms.
“You have to be dynamic, you have to be able to shift, and sometimes that means stopping contributions, sometimes it means cancelling services,” Dobson said. “Instead of having five streaming services, have three. Instead of putting $500 into your account every month, drop it to $250 until things get better.”
In September, an Ipsos poll found that six in 10 Canadians were concerned that “they can’t absorb any unexpected costs of $1,000 or more.”
That poll also found that 43 per cent of the 1,000 Canadians surveyed were concerned they may not be able to afford to feed their families.
