Making saving for retirement easier— with your phone?
Your retirement years can be some of the most exciting and adventurous of your life. For Canadians, those years are getting longer. Retirees are living decades after their careers end, which makes saving for retirement more important than ever. Your smartphone can be a secret weapon to help you save.
It’s no secret that seniors around the globe are living longer. In Canada, the population over age 85 is one of the fastest-growing groups. In fact, there are nearly 10,000 adults aged 100 or older right now.
Unfortunately, getting older often comes with health challenges, and care—such as a nursing home or medical assistant—can be costly. Even with perfect health, you still need to pay for housing, food, and other necessities without a steady paycheque. Although government programs do provide some financial help, it’s typically not enough to live comfortably. That’s why it’s important to start putting money aside for retirement early in your career and continue saving regularly.
The challenge of saving for the future
Creating a budget, saving regularly, and checking in on your retirement accounts are important tasks, but also easy to forget. Aside from your job, you likely also have a busy schedule filled with family plans, grocery shopping, pets, laundry, and much more. It’s natural to let retirement planning fall to the bottom of your list sometimes; however, it’s important to make future planning a priority, especially when your retirement could last decades.
How to make saving easier
After a long day, the last thing you want to do is sit down with a spreadsheet and calculator, trying to figure out how many dollars to transfer into your retirement account or estimate how much you’ll spend on groceries, decades in the future. Luckily, technology can make managing these responsibilities a lot easier and more convenient.
Can your smartphone help you save for retirement?
If you’re like most Canadians, you spend quite a bit of the day on the apps on your mobile device. In fact, the average daily time Canadians spend online exceeds four hours, which is higher than those in the United States and United Kingdom. And three-quarters of Canadian adults report feeling comfortable handling details of their retirement investments on an app.
The good news is that there are lots of financial and investment apps that can help you manage your finances and your savings. And they do more than show you a balance—many allow you to make transactions, plan your spending, or view education content.
Adding a financial app to your phone means you can manage your savings and retirement plans (or learn how to) wherever you are, and whenever you have a free minute.
Is there an advantage to retirement planning on a mobile device?
In general, most people want the option of consuming content on their smartphone. But is there actually an advantage? Yes! Members of group retirement programs who review their accounts more often also save more. Even among online users, those with the Manulife Mobile app sign in to their account three times more often than those that just view their information on the website.¹ Not only that, but these same investors manage to add 20% more to their plan, giving them a bigger nest egg for retirement.
Is it too late to start saving for retirement?
No matter how you decide to save for your retirement, the best time to start is now. Mobile devices are just one way for you to start saving for your golden years. Whatever the platform or place, the most important thing is to regularly add to the account so that you can enjoy the next chapter of your life stress-free.
Important disclosures
The commentary in this publication is for general information only and should not be considered legal, financial, or tax advice to any party. Individuals should seek the advice of professionals to ensure that any action taken with respect to this information is appropriate to their specific situation.