Canadians More Diligent Savers in ’09, Survey Says

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Canadians More Diligent Savers

More than half of Canadian workers have changed their spending habits and reduced their debt in 2009, according to the Sun Life Financial Canadian Unretirement Index released today.

In December 2008 we saw that many Canadian workers were conflicted about their retirement prospects, but now, almost a year later, there's an increased confidence in their ability to save enough for certain things like basic living and medical expenses," said Dean Connor, Sun Life Financial Canada's president. "According to our survey, paying housing expenses is the number one financial priority of Canadian workers until about age 51, when retirement saving takes over as the top priority."

The survey revealed that 60 per cent of the 1,200 respondents have reduced their debt this year and 59 per cent have cut back spending since January. Canadians are also more confident with their retirement prospects, with 55 per cent of those surveyed saying they believe they will be retired by age 66, up four per cent since the 2008 Unretirement Index.

This article was published in the Canadian Mortgage Professional Magazine.