People in Alberta believe they need nearly a million dollars to retire — but the majority don’t have a plan to get there.

Or at least, that’s what a recent study released by RBC says.

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According to the financial services company, Albertans responding to a survey said they’d need at least $916,000 on average to comfortably retire in Alberta — but almost half of them don’t have a financial plan to get there.

That dollar figure is also much higher than how much money people in other provinces said they would need. The national average is $787,000. In Ontario, people believed they’d need $872,000 for their nest egg.

RBC surveyed 2,000 Canadians across the country to find their spending habits, financial plans (if any), and where they think they could save money.

Participants were also asked just how confident they were in being able to save up for a nest egg.

A total of 41% of Albertan respondents felt “somewhat confident,” 14% felt “very confident,” but a staggering 45% admitted that they had no confidence that they’d reach their financial retirement goals.

So just how far are Albertans willing to go to save more?

More than three-in-four are prepared to spend less on non-essentials. Most (62%) are willing to eat out less. Others were willing to postpone major purchases (54%) and cut back on travel (43%).

RBC

When asked what was motivating Albertans to build up a nest egg, the answer was simple — the majority (66%) wanted to be debt-free.

“Debt is a huge motivator for most Canadians,” explained Richa Hingorani, Senior Director of Digital Strategy at RBC, in a release.

“They don’t want to live with debt now and they don’t want to retire with debt in the future.”

Hingorani also noted that taking steps to eliminate debt has yet to become a reality for most people.

Case in point, while 54% of Albertans said that that they had a financial plan for the future, 35% of those respondents revealed that they kept those plans in their heads.

The remaining 46% didn’t have a financial plan at all.

RBC

RBC’s 29th annual RRSP Poll was conducted from November 20 to 26, 2018.

With files from Vincent Plana

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