Canadian couples say they need $1.7M to retire. Are you on track?

A recent RBC survey says millennials feel they will need nearly a million ($999,000) in individual savings to have a shot at a comfortable retirement.

It may be a while before young Canadians stop working, but retirement still feels like a mountain to climb for most, according to new surveys released this week.

On average, Canadian couples say they need $1.7 million in savings to be able to retire comfortably, BMO’s Annual Retirement Survey says. This figure is up from $1.54 million in last year’s survey.

This figure represents the total retirement savings for a household, BMO senior portfolio manager Terri Szego told Global News.

This means each person in a couple would have to have around $850,000 to reach that goal.

A similar RBC survey puts that figure around $814,000.

However, the RBC survey says millennials feel they will need nearly a million ($999,000) in individual savings to have a shot at a comfortable retirement, because inflation will have raised the cost of living significantly by the time they hang up their boots.

This figure only represents an average of what respondents said and the actual goal may be different depending on the kind of life you want to live in retirement, Szego said.

“Every individual and couple are different in terms of what they spend now, what they’re saving, and then what they think they’ll spend in retirement,” she said.