RY Royal Bank of Canada

TORONTO, Jan. 14, 2019 /CNW/ - Non-retired Canadians have big numbers in mind for the money they'll need to save to ensure a comfortable financial future – averaging as high as $1.07 million in B.C. – but almost half (48%) don't yet have a financial plan to help them reach that goal, according to the 2019 RBC Financial Independence in Retirement Poll.

These poll respondents expressed varying degrees of confidence about their ability to save enough to build their nest egg, with 45% feeling somewhat confident, 16% very confident and 39% having no confidence they would ever reach their goal. Respondents also have a number of actions they would be willing to take to help them create their nest egg, including:

• Spend less on non-essentials (74%)
• Eat out less (59%)
• Postpone major purchases (45%)
• Cut back on travel (34%)

They also have a strong motivator to save: they want to be debt-free (66%).

"Debt is a huge motivator for most Canadians – they're telling us they don't want to live with debt now and they don't want to retire with debt in future," noted Richa Hingorani, Senior Director, Digital Strategy, RBC. "Identifying actions to start taking today is an important first step – and those actions can become much more effective if people put a plan in place to help them reach their goal."

While the RBC poll found that the percentage of all Canadian adults who have a financial plan has been growing – it reached over half (54%) in 2018 – one-third (32%) of those report their plan is 'in my head' and almost half (46%) still have no plan at all.

"This is where new digital resources can be of great assistance, where you can easily see – in real time, from the comfort of your home – how having a plan can have an immediate impact on your savings goal," added Hingorani. "You don't need a big plan in order to have a big savings and investing goal – but you do need to be able to track your progress. By activating your personal plan, supported by advice you can easily access online whenever you wish, you can make a real difference to your financial future."

An easy way to activate a plan is now available through MyAdvisor, an 'in real time' personalized planning solution unique to RBC. This new service digitally connects a client – from wherever the client prefers to be – with one of RBC's more than 8,000 advisors and Financial Planners across Canada. Through this connection, the client and the advisor or Financial Planner can jointly view and adjust an online dashboard that displays an interactive picture of the client's finances. The dynamic visual elements make it very easy for clients to see how even very small actions – such as increasing monthly contributions to savings and investments or reducing debt – can have a big impact on their financial goals, including their projected retirement date.

REGIONAL COMPARISONS – NON-RETIRED CANADIANS

REGIONAL COMPARISONS – ALL CANADIANS AGED 18+

About the 2019 RBC Financial Independence in Retirement Poll
These are a selection of findings of the 29^th annual RBC RRSP Poll, conducted by Ipsos from November 20 to 26, 2018 on behalf of RBC Financial Planning, through a national survey of 2,000 Canadians aged 18+ who completed their surveys online. Where appropriate, attitudes and opinions are tracked back to previous years' surveys. Quota sampling and weighting are employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ±2.2 percentage points had all Canadian adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population, such as among Millennials aged 25-34 (±5.2 percentage points). All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

About RBC's MyAdvisor and financial planning advice
MyAdvisor is a new online service unique to RBC that digitally connects clients to advisors – including Financial Planners – providing an "in real time" opportunity for the client and the advisor to view and adjust an interactive dashboard displaying the client's savings and investment goals and to establish actions to achieve those goals. The RBC advisors behind MyAdvisor are ready to meet with clients via live video, phone or in person – whichever clients prefer when they book their appointments, all at no extra cost. Clients also receive personalized updates and alerts to track their progress against goals and see the impact of market volatility and other changes on their portfolio. MyAdvisor shows clients how the decisions and actions they take today can help them save, plan and invest to meet their goals in a way that works for them. MyAdvisor is a product of RBC's Toronto-based innovation lab; other labs are located in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe. These innovation labs co-create new products and services based on direct input from RBC clients and employees.

RBC Financial Planning and rbc.com/savingsspot offer planning, budgeting and savings advice and resources and the RBC Retirement Planning website can help you plan for 30 years or more in retirement. In addition, for Canadians who want to get more from their day-to-day banking, protect what's important, save and invest, borrow with confidence or take care of their businesses, RBC Discover & Learn offers free online advice, resources and tools, including the RSP-Matic Savings Calculator.

SOURCE RBC