Nearly four in 10 lower-income Canadians have no emergency fund: RBC poll
Vehicle repairs and other transportation costs topped the list of financial worries at 39%, followed by major home repairs at 38% and medical or health-related expenses at 31%.
“Financial stress in any form can affect how secure and in control people feel,” said Erica Nielsen, Group Head, RBC Personal Banking. “We want to help Canadians build the habit of setting some money aside regularly, even a small amount, so that when expenses arise without warning, they have the financial breathing room to handle them.”
The overwhelming reason Canadians gave for struggling to build or maintain a rainy-day fund was simply the cost of living, cited by 76% of respondents overall. That figure climbed even higher in certain regions, reaching 86% in Alberta, 83% in Atlantic Canada, and 79% in both Ontario and the Saskatchewan/Manitoba region.
Other obstacles reported nationally included competing financial priorities that leave no room for saving (55%, rising to 64% in Saskatchewan/Manitoba and 59% in Atlantic Canada), finances stretched too thin to make headway (45%, climbing to 51% in Atlantic Canada and 49% in Alberta), and having to dip into existing emergency savings for non-emergency spending (29% nationally, 42% in Atlantic Canada).
Separately, 41% of all respondents admitted they had underestimated how much they ought to be setting aside for emergencies, and 25% said they’d recently tapped their fund for a crisis but hadn’t yet replenished it.
