Canadians are delaying long-term goals to keep up with cost of living: data
Global News
Canadians say it's getting more challenging to save for the future because of the economy and high cost of living, according to new survey data.
Canadians are putting off long-term goals like buying a home or saving for retirement in order to keep up with the high cost of living, data suggests.
A new report from Willful, a Canadian online estate planning platform, shows how a large share of Canadians who say they are putting off those plans point the finger at the economy.
“The study is the incongruity between intention and action. We all intend to check these financial items off our list and we don’t,” says Erin Bury, co-founder and CEO at Willful.
“And sometimes that’s because of feasibility, because we simply just don’t have the means to do so, like the money to put into that RESP.”
The Angus Reid survey conducted by Willful sampled over 1,500 Canadians in early October 2025, asking about their financial optimism compared to the same period in 2024 when the survey first started.
More than half of respondents (58 per cent) said the state of the economy forced them to delay major milestones this year.
Polling done by Ipsos earlier this year also showed that inflation and the cost of living were the top concerns for Canadians, following similar results over recent years.
Bury says some of these financial goals and milestones include saving for the future, paying off debt, creating a will, getting married, and buying a home or a vehicle.
