Story after story talks about how X per cent of Canadians don’t have enough savings to pay an unexpected $2,000 bill — or how they live paycheque to paycheque.

So, fine. Maybe we don’t save as much as we’d like. But are there any nations that can make that boast? And if so, why — what’s making them save so well? Save with SPP had a look around to find out.

According to the Statista website, the Swiss are the world’s leading savers, socking away an impressive 23.1 per cent of household income as of 2020. They are followed closely by the Irish (21.6 per cent), the French (21 per cent) and the citizens of tiny Luxembourg (18.1 per cent).

Canada was 12^th on this list.

Our grandfather was born in Basel, Switzerland and was a formidable saver.

Let’s focus, then on the top two, the Swiss and the French.

The Swiss, reports the BBC, are a bit unique in that they still like to use cash.

“In Switzerland, cash remains the dominant payment method. Here, there’s an assumption everyone carries cash, even in an increasingly digital economy. Most don’t get caught out buying a sandwich or paying for a haircut when the card payment machine is out of order,” the article notes. In fact, the broadcaster goes on, 70 per cent of Swiss financial transactions are in cash — 22 per cent are through debit cards, and just five per cent are via credit cards.

The relative lack of credit card use in Switzerland is quite instructive, particularly when contrasted with the record-high levels of credit card debt here in Canada. Less debt to pay down means more money to put in savings, perhaps?

A CNBC report found that in addition to having a cultural tradition of saving, the Swiss franc is a very valuable, stable currency. The average income in Switzerland is quite high, so people spend a smaller proportion of their overall earnings on “food and accommodation” versus folks in other countries, the article adds. Inflation, though high for Switzerland, was much lower than in other European countries, the article adds.

OK — the Swiss spend cash, even commonly using 1,000-franc banknotes, they are fairly wealthy, and so spend less of their overall income on necessities like food and shelter. That leaves more money for savings.

What about the French? In France, reports the Tilly Money blog, citizens enjoy “one of Europe’s most generous state welfare systems,” including “substantial unemployment benefits, a world-class healthcare system” and “one of the youngest retirement ages in Europe.” As we’ve read, there are still protests going on about changing the state retirement age to 64 from 62.

“The majority of the population put their savings into a financial investment ‘Livret A’ account, where the interest rate is low and fixed by the State but is also guaranteed by the State and tax free. Their second love is, of course, ‘investir dans la pierre’ – or what we would call investing in bricks and mortar,” the article continues.

According to the bank BNP Paribas, “middle-aged households (30 to 59 year olds) save more than younger and older generations.”

So for France, then, you not only have generous state benefits for retirement, unemployment and health, but a government-backed savings account and a focus on investing in real estate.

So, some interesting traits emerge her for our friends in Switzerland and France who are high savers. They like to use cash and not credit cards. They tend to have higher incomes and thus are less impacted by rising food and shelter prices. Government benefits are generous, and in France at least, you can save in a fund where your rate of return in guaranteed by the government. Both the French and Swiss seem to have a cultural tradition of saving.

It’s interesting to see how the other half lives — and saves!

Here in Canada, government retirement benefits are pretty basic. If you want a little more money to help fund your retirement lifestyle, personal savings is the way to go. A great tool to help you boost your retirement savings is the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. SPP will take your contributions and invest them in a pooled, professionally managed fund, run at a very low cost. When it’s time to start your retired life, SPP will present you with a variety of income options for your savings, including the possibility of a lifetime monthly annuity! Check out SPP today!

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Those of us still slogging away at our jobs — maybe working from home, or perhaps beginning our return to the shop — like to dream of a future beyond work, where we’re retired and able to do whatever we want.

But if “doing what we want” is zoning out, drinking coffee, and watching movies from the couch, there could be problems lurking ahead. Save with SPP took a look around to find out what people are saying about the dangers of inactivity in retirement.

According to information from the World Health Organization, cited by the Step2Health blog, physical inactivity is pretty widespread. “Sixty to 85 per cent of people globally lead a sedentary lifestyle,” the blog reports.

“Studies show that sedentary behavior, particularly in the elderly, is detrimental to their health. Medical experts believe that older people sitting too much or spending extended periods in bed are more prone to the risks of chronic health problems such as heart diseases, diabetes, obesity, and even cancer,” the blog notes.

In the U.S., the Center for a Secure Retirement also concludes that “long periods of inactivity are bad for our health.”

“Retirees are particularly vulnerable to sedentary behavior. Retirement is associated with a 10 per cent decrease in moderate to vigorous physical activity and a 13 to 29 per cent increase in TV watching, according to a 2018 study from the National Institute of Health,” the Center notes.

The Center recommends that seniors “take a five minute walk every two hours,” or “stand and march in place during commercials while watching TV.” Another bit of advice is to “walk around, pacing, while you are on the phone” and to “do pushups against the wall while waiting for the oven to heat up or the microwave to finish cooking.”

The BBC also takes the view that an inactive retirement can have negative impacts on both your physical and mental health.

“Research from the Institute of Economic Affairs suggests that while retirement may initially benefit health — by reducing stress and creating time for other activities — adverse effects increase the longer retirement goes on,” reports the BBC.

“It found retirement increases the chances of suffering from clinical depression by around 40 per cent and of having at least one diagnosed physical illness by 60 per cent,” the article continues.

It’s inactivity that can be a chief cause of these problems, the BBC report explains.

“It may be there is no imperative to get up and out of the house, as there was when there was a daily journey to work,” the article notes. “Or it may be that a health problem has meant someone cannot – or does not want to – get out and about.”

An antidote, the network adds, is physical activity.

“Age UK runs a programme called Fit as a Fiddle, which encourages older people to keep physically active — as well as to eat healthily and look after their mental health,” reports the broadcaster. “Simply walking can offer great benefits, including boosting your mood, as can gentle exercise classes.”

Let’s recap. If you decide to spend your retirement sitting around at home, your physical health can decline, and the isolation may impact your mental health. Even light activity can help prevent these problems.

So it’s probably an important part of your retirement plan to think of what you’ll do to keep active after you log out for the last time. Consider taking a dance class, or painting lessons, or volunteering, just to get you out of the house and moving around. Your future you will be glad you thought about this.

And your future you will be pleased if you’ve chosen the Saskatchewan Pension Plan to help you save up for life after work. SPP has been helping Canadians save for retirement for more than 35 years. Let SPP do the heavy lifting of investing your nest egg — via a pooled fund and low management costs — so that you’ll enjoy a nice, extra income stream when you hang up your name tag for the last time.

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If you take a look at the cost of real estate in most Canadian towns and cities – and then look as well at rental rates – it is not surprising that so-called “boomerang kids” are choosing or being forced to move back in with their parents.

Figures from 2016 – pre-pandemic – from Statistics Canada showed “34.7 per cent (of) young adults aged 20 to 34 were living with at least one parent,” states an article on the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada website.

The article, written in 2019, quotes Great West Life Realty Advisors’ Brigitte Lazarko as saying the high cost of housing is definitely a contributor factor in the boomerang equation.

“Everybody has that dream of owning a home, and they’re seeing [that] it’s going to take quite a bit more to get there than perhaps the previous generation,” she states in the article.

Since then, while housing prices have rolled back from their highs, interest rates have jumped to record high levels. That makes mortgages more expensive, and can increase rental rates as well, and no doubt the number of kids moving home has increased.

Interest rates, which recently were around 6.8 per cent, are having impacts on housing, confirms MoneyWise Canada via MSN.

“Higher mortgage rates have already affected house sales. With fewer buyers, homesellers have been forced to consider lower prices,” the article notes.

“But it’s not only buyers and sellers impacted. Renters are competing with those who can’t afford to buy, while investors are considering raising rent to keep up with increasing mortgage payments,” the article continues.

Those of us who remember paying under $200 a month for a one-bedroom apartment in the 1980s (when interest rates were also high) get sticker shock when they see what young people must pay now. The article notes that the average rent for one-bedroom apartments in Vancouver hit $2,590 recently, with Toronto ($2,474) and Burnaby ($2,292) close behind.

The pandemic has added some twists in the boomerang story, reports the BBC. “Though the ‘boomerang’ stage has been on the rise for at least the last decade, the pandemic has added a few new contributing factors: many who planned to go away for college could not – university campuses closed across the world – and others who might have otherwise moved for a job after college delayed leaving home because in-office work has not been available,” the broadcaster reports.

Other factors that hinder kids from leaving the nest include student debt, time needed to save a much larger down payment or just the need to “establish themselves in their career,” the BBC reports.

The Street reports that having to look after adult kids can impact retirement savings.

“Parents in their 40s and 50s should be saving aggressively for retirement, and extended child support can do a lot of damage. Suppose an assortment of parenting costs come to $500 a month for five years, starting when the parents were 45. If that money was invested instead at an eight per cent annual return it would grow to $36,707 in five years,” the article notes. “Over the next 20 years that sum could grow to $171,000. How many 70-year-olds wouldn’t like to have that?,” the publication reports.

Forbes magazine offers five ideas on how to help boomerang kids become more financially self-sufficient, including a detailed cost analysis on what extra you’ll pay to help the kids with accommodation, their bills, etc., to helping them set up a budget, to considering charging them rent, to getting them saving for retirement while at home, and to making sure they get financial advice.

The overall message here is to work things out beforehand, so that your kids aren’t “guests,” but contributing family members with various chores and responsibilities. As well, an effort needs to be made to ensure that they benefit from living at home for less by paying off debt and saving for the future, including retirement.

For anyone without a retirement program at work, the Saskatchewan Pension Plan (SPP) is a great do-it-yourself option. You can contribute up to $7,000 a year towards SPP, plus you can consolidate savings stuck in various registered retirement savings plans by transferring up to $10,000 annually into SPP. Be sure to check out this made-in-Saskatchewan solution to Canadian retirement saving today!

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