Many Canadians are struggling to make ends meet. Personal finance headlines are all about reducing expenses and debt. Canada is fresh off an election campaign where affordability was a dominant theme. And some experts are even predicting a recession, which means further belt-tightening.

Canadians have so much stress about paying bills today that saving for retirement wouldn’t even be on our radar screens, right?

Wrong.

Recent public opinion research commissioned by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) and conducted by Abacus Data found that four out of five Canadians would choose a better pension (or any pension) over a pay raise. Think about that — even as many of us are struggling to keep up with our expenses today — a full 80 per cent would still forgo more money in their pockets now in exchange for better financial security later in life.

This tells us that Canadians are thinking long-term and have a high level of anxiety around retirement security. Here are some more findings from our survey of 2,500 Canadians:

More are worried about saving enough for retirement (75 per cent) than are worried about current government debt (64 per cent) or personal debt (55 per cent);

Seventy-six per cent say the shrinking of workplace pension coverage hurts the economy.

These results present a clear call to action to enhance retirement affordability. Canadians see the problem, understand its impacts, and want to collaborate with employers and governments to find a solution. And they are prepared to do their own part by choosing better pensions over salary increases.

Canadians have a track record of thinking long term about their finances and decision-makers are wise to keep this in mind. When enhancements to CPP were being considered in 2015, a HOOPP-commissioned survey of Canadians asked if they considered their CPP contributions a tax or an investment in their future. A full 74 per cent understood that, yes, it’s an investment.

This level of public support made it a smart call for federal and provincial governments to agree to the CPP enhancements that took effect in January of this year.

More findings from the recent research show Canadians see the bigger picture:

Eighty-three per cent believe government should modernize regulations to allow for more innovative pension plans and savings arrangements.

Eighty per cent would rather employers make direct contributions to a retirement plan over receiving that money as salary.

The problem is that retirement is becoming increasingly expensive. The erosion of workplace pension plan coverage and quality means more and more Canadians are being forced to save on their own — and that is extremely expensive and difficult to do.

This is where the discussion too often devolves into a debate between defined benefit vs. defined contribution, but it doesn’t have to be so binary.

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Other research by HOOPP from last fall found five “value drivers” that make it much more affordable to save for retirement. These value drivers include things like mandatory paycheque deductions, pooling your money with other savers and professional investment expertise. These can be incorporated in any number of ways. Jointly governed multi-employer plans are just one example of how to give employees access to the five value drivers without asking the employer to assume all of the risk on their books.

The bottom line is that we need to keep talking about this issue, and collaborating on ways to implement more affordable retirement savings plans. It will require creativity and diligence, but it’s essential work. Canadians want and expect it.