As 2013 comes to an end, how would you summarize your financial status?
Ipsos Reid and Sun Life surveyed 1,239 and found that 57% of Canadians believe that they were no better off now than they were last year. More optimistic were 38% of respondents who claim to have improved their financial positions while 5% said they weren't sure.
Sifting through the data, women (61%) were more likely than men (53%) to express feeling worse off financially, as were seniors 55 and over (61%) when compared to the 35-54 age group at 58% or the 18-34-year-old adults at 50%.
The survey also shows that while 36% of Canadians contribute to retirement savings, with 18% doing so on a regular or monthly basis and 12% making lump-sum contributions yearly, the vast majority - 58% polled - made no RRSP contributions.
Sun Life president Kevin Dougherty notes: "It's concerning that a majority of Canadians aren't feeling better off financially than they were last year as we head into a holiday season where we tend to spend more and save less. Canadians can take steps toward feeling better by putting a financial plan in writing and perhaps consider it as a new year's resolution."
There were also differences by provinces with 47% of Albertans feeling less financially healthy, followed by those in Saskatchewan and Manitoba (45%), and Canadians in the Atlantic provinces (43%). In Quebec, 63% of respondents felt less well off than they did in 2012.