Canadians' top financial regrets

Most Canadians have a financial regret—one that’s easily avoided by having a financial advisor.

Read: Unease exists between clients and advisors: survey

Of the 83% of Canadians who say they have at least one such regret, a lack of savings (13%) and investments (12%) topped the list, finds a Leger survey commissioned by FPSC. The survey follows up on a similar FPSC study from 2014.

Other top regrets are not investing in real estate (8%), not obtaining more education (7%) and taking on debt (5%).

The survey also finds that money is many Canadians’ greatest source of stress—more so than health, work and relationships. Four-in-10 Canadians (41%) rank money as their greatest stress, and 48% say they’ve lost sleep because of financial worries.

Along with other surveys, the FPSC finds that Canadians feel shame about their financial woes, with more than half of Canadians surveyed (51%) saying they’re embarrassed about lacking control over their finances—a sizable increase from 2014 (44%). Younger Canadians and those earning less than $80k per year are significantly more likely to be embarrassed about such a lack of control.

For full details, see the FPSC survey.

About the survey: Between March 30 and April 2, 2018, 1,106 Canadians (excluding Quebecers) were asked about their financial stresses. The survey’s margin of error is +/-3.0%, 19 times out of 20.

Also read:

Public complaints about financial planning triple in 2017: FPSC

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