Introduction

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The Canadian Financial Capability Survey (CFCS), released by Statistics Canada in December 2009, was designed to collect information about Canadians' knowledge, abilities, and behaviours concerning financial decision-making. In addition to information on approaches to money management and financial planning, the CFCS collected information on issues relevant to current discussions about Canada's retirement income system. For example, retired respondents were asked about their financial standard of living in retirement and whether their retirement income is sufficient to comfortably cover their bills and financial commitments. Working-age Canadians were asked about their financial preparations for retirement. This research note provides highlights on retirement issues using the CFCS.

The CFCS is a nationally representative survey that collected information from 15,519 respondents 18 years of age or older living in private households in the 10 provinces. The survey was fielded between February and May 2009 - a period during which stock market values declined significantly and considerable media attention was focused on the prospects of a global recession. Answers to some survey questions, particularly those regarding respondents' assessments of their financial plans, should be interpreted with this context in mind.