Paying down debt top financial priority for Canadians

Retirement planning declines in importance: Survey

Retirement planning is no longer among the top three when it comes to the financial priorities of Canadians, according to a poll released by CIBC.

Over the last three years of the survey, respondents identified the following as their top financial priorities:

2013

2012

2011

Paying down debt

17%

17%

14%

Building savings

10%

10%

10%

Managing day-to-day spending, budgeting

8%

14%

12%

Retirement planning

7%

11%

13%

Age groups where retirement planning was traditionally a top priority have now shifted to a focus on debt reduction. Two years ago, 24 per cent of respondents aged 45 to 64 named retirement planning as their top financial priority, compared to just 12 per cent in this year's survey.

At the same time, debt management increased as a priority from 14 per cent two years ago to 18 per cent today for this age group, found the survey of 2,009 adults.

Financial priorities for 2013 by age

Age bracket

Paying
down
debt

Retirement
planning

18-24

12%

0%

25-34

24%

5%

35-44

28%

4%

45-54

21%

11%

55-64

13%

13%

65+

7%

4%

Top financial priorities for 2013 by region

Paying
down
debt

Building
savings

Managing
day-to-day
spending

Retirement
planning

National

17%

10%

8%

7%

Atlantic Canada

20%

10%

8%

7%

Quebec

14%

6%

5%

7%

Ontario

19%

11%

9%

6%

Manitoba and
Saskatchewan

19%

11%

10%

6%

Alberta

19%

11%

6%

8%

British Columbia

17%

14%

9%

9%

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