A Vancouver financial institution is painting a grim picture for people hoping to retire early – or even at age 65 -- in the City of Glass.

In its new report, Vancity says that even if people start making the average RRSP contribution at age 25, it will take people in Vancouver three or four years longer to save for retirement than people in Toronto.

You can up that time frame to six or seven years more if you’re comparing Vancouverites to people in Winnipeg.

"The old adage is work hard to play hard, but now it's more like work longer to hopefully play in retirement,” investment advisor Sophie Salcito said in a statement.

Vancity says the high cost of living in Vancouver and Victoria means people need a much higher retirement income to maintain a similar lifestyle.

It says Vancouverites will need a minimum retirement income of just over $39,195, while people in Winnipeg could live comfortably on $12,000 less.

The average benchmark price for a detached home in Vancouver hit just over $1-million.

Three out of four people under 45 will be unable to retire if they don’t boost their RRSP contributions, the report warns.

Vancity says 75 per cent of people in that age category don’t contribute to registered savings whatsoever, and those that do are contributing less than the Canadian average.

Its study found that RRSP contributions in Victoria have declined by 11.2 per cent in the past 12 years, far greater than the 7.2 per cent Canadian average decline.

Contributions in Montreal only declined 1.8 per cent in the same time frame.