Half of Canadian parents are prepared to postpone retirement in order to help their adult children, according to a survey by BMO, the fourth largest bank in Canada. Parents are concerned that their offspring are not going to achieve the same level of financial comfort as they have.
Fear is driven by a high level of unemployment, the high cost of housing, large student debts, and the difficulty young people have getting “meaningful employment in fields related to their education,” notes the report.
Young adults feel uncertainty
In order to help their children, one third of parents were open to saving less for their own retirement and 22 per cent said they would be willing to go into debt. Half of young adults today feel life is full of uncertainty, whereas only 34 per cent of their parent’s generation did.
Some 56 per cent of children seeking post-secondary education get parental support by living at home, while 61 per cent get financial support. That is almost double the levels of support given to their parents’ generation.
Even after their childen leave home, almost 30 per cent of parents still provide frequent or ongoing financial support from parents. Another 52 per cent of parents provide occasional financial support.
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