A recent survey conducted by Ipsos Reid for Sun Life Financial shows that the number of Canadians who expect to work full time beyond the age of 65 has surpassed those who expect to be completely retired by that age. The survey also revealed that more than a third of working Canadians believe there is a serious risk that they will outlive their savings, while only one in seven retirees think this way.

The number of people who expect to keep working when they are seniors has grown over the last three years. The Sun Life survey shows that 32% of Canadian workers now expect to work full time after retirement age and 27% plan to keep working part-time after they retire, while only 27% believe they will be able to stop working entirely.

“This really is a tale of two retirements,” comments Kevin Dougherty, president of Sun Life Canada. "It is striking that in today's economic environment, they've developed a view of retirement that previous generations of workers would not recognize."

Asked for the main reason they expect to still be working at age 66, the top three answers given by respondents were that they need to earn enough money to pay basic living expenses (21%), that they did not believe government pensions will be enough to live on (18%), and that they want to earn enough money to live well (16%).