Retirement planning tops list of hardest financial decisions for Canadians
“Canadians are telling us that retirement planning is one of the most difficult financial decisions they face,” said Eli Yufest, executive director of the Canadian ETF Association, in a statement accompanying the findings.
Financial literacy takes centre stage
The research arrives at a moment when ETF adoption is rising across Canada but knowledge gaps among investors remain stubbornly wide. CETFA’s July findings add a new dimension with even among those who already own ETFs finding that the retirement planning challenge is acute.
Across all respondents, 77 per cent said they support making financial literacy a mandatory subject in Canadian schools. That figure climbs to 86 per cent among ETF owners, suggesting that those with direct experience investing are among the strongest advocates for improving financial education at the foundational level.
The data underscores what many advisors already observe in practice: clients arrive without the tools to make confident long-term decisions, and the cost of that gap compounds over time.
