More than two-thirds of young Canadians are worried they will face greater challenges than their parents in accumulating savings for their retirement years, a new survey suggests.
But the survey also found more and more parents plan to help their adult children, even to the detriment of their own finances.
A report published this week by the Bank of Montreal (BMO) found that 73 percent of Millennials surveyed say retirement planning will be more difficult than it was for their parents, followed by Generation X at 67 percent, Generation Z at 61 percent and Boomers at 60 percent.
BMO’s Paul Lalonde said the level of concern reported by survey takers came as no surprise.
“With uncertainty around the cost of living and what retirement will look like in the future, it’s natural for Canadians to feel anxious about whether they’re saving enough,” Lalonde, head of wealth planning at BMO Private Wealth Canada, said in a press release.
The majority of those polled—77 percent—said they were also concerned about future generations.
Eighty-two percent of Baby Boomers expressed the most concern about the retirement outlook for future generations compared to Gen Z, who were the least worried, at 67 percent.
Millennials and Gen X were almost equally concerned at 78 percent, and 75 percent, respectively.
Although affordability issues continue to be a major concern, many of the Canadians polled indicated a desire to support the next generation.
Nearly half of the respondents reported plans to offer financial assistance to their adult children even though 83 percent of them said they were aware that could have a detrimental effect on their retirement plans.
The desire to assist the next generation was highest among Gen Z and lowest among Boomers. Sixty-eight percent of Gen Z survey takers said they plan to provide financial support to their children followed by Millennials at 58 percent, Gen X at 42 percent, and Boomers at 38 percent.
BMO Private Wealth vice-president and regional director of estate and trust services Lydia Potocnik said this trend is becoming more noticeable.
“We are seeing more families thinking beyond their own retirement and planning for how wealth will be passed to the next generation,” she said in the press release.
She said transferring wealth across generations has become an essential component of financial planning, and a comprehensive strategy typically incorporates estate planning, which can assist parents in supporting their children while safeguarding their own retirement security.
The online survey of 1,500 adult Canadians was conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights between Nov. 4 and 10, 2025.
