Retired Money

By Jonathan Chevreau on March 13, 2025
Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

By Jonathan Chevreau on March 13, 2025
Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

Economic uncertainty, inflation and the decline of workplace pensions have left growing numbers of seniors unable to leave their jobs.

The idea of “unretirement” seems to be making a comeback as more Canadians find themselves under economic stress. Even before the tariff threats emerged under Trump 2.0, seniors and near-retirees were finding the economic uncertainty and rising cost of living becoming uncomfortable. No surprise then that many who are approaching retirement age are delaying their exit from the workforce.

When I first saw the latest version of this survey by HealthCare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)—which finds more than one in four (28%) of working Canadians, aged 55 to 64, expect to continue working in retirement to support themselves financially—I assumed HOOPP’s use of the term “unretirement” referred to people who had tried retiring but then went back to work, usually for reasons of financial necessity.

However HOOPP’s definition is a bit different. It describes it as the situation for “respondents who are not either retired or semi-retired, meaning they may be employed full- or part-time, or unemployed but not due to retirement.” And it defines “retired” as meaning those who “have fully retired (not including semi-retired individuals).”

Regardless, as sixth annual Canadian Retirement Survey (conducted by Abacus Data in the spring of 2024), the survey found “persistent high interest rates and a rising cost of living continue to have a significant negative impact on Canadians’ ability to save and manage the cost of daily life, threatening their retirement preparedness.” The online survey included 2,000 Canadians aged 18 or older.

Other surveys show similar trends.

Ben McCabe founded Toronto-based Bloom Finance Co. Ltd. in 2021, with a focus on reverse mortgages and related products that let this beleaguered demographic tap their home equity. A Bloom study conducted with Angus Reid found 46% of Canadians thinking of working part-time in retirement. That’s in line with a Fidelity survey in 2024 that found half of Canadians plan to delay retirement.

According to the Bloom Report in March 2024, 67% of Canadian homeowners, over 55, were concerned their savings would not sustain their quality of life through retirement. Only 29% considered downsizing or alternative living situations to access their home equity earlier than expected. And, 59% of the same cohort agreed that accessing micro-amounts of their home’s equity would help maintain their desired living standard.

In an interview, McCabe says he regards unretirement as seniors coming out of retirement voluntarily or involuntarily, which is how I view it myself, too. Seniors are “disproportionately impacted by inflation,” he notes. The survey was for those 55 or older: Bloom’s average client is 71. Many never had the luxury of having enough disposable income to generate sufficient inflation-hedging investments in their registered or other investments, even if they succeeded in paying down their mortgages.

BMO’s 15th annual Retirement Survey, released in February of this year, found that 76% of........

© MoneySense