Basic Living Expenses for the Canadian Elderly
Abstract
Our research undertakes to determine the basic living expenses required by Canadian seniors living in different circumstances in terms of age, gender, city of residence, household size, homeowner or renter, means of transportation and health status. The paper develops required expenses for food, shelter, health care, transportation and miscellaneous. The research identifies the typical expenses of seniors in each of these categories. Using 2001 as our base year, we follow the US Elder Standard to build an elderly threshold for Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. The research is unique because it is the first Canadian study of absolute basic living expenses tailored to seniors, rather than simply to adults in general. This information is important to seniors, prospective retirees, financial planners, policy makers and actuaries in assessing the minimum level of income required in retirement and the adequacy of savings and income security programs. Our conclusions suggest that individual circumstances, rather than age, are the primary drivers in determining the cost of these basic expenses. Seniors are a diverse group, particularly with respect to health, so it is important that seniors and financial planners do not blindly rely on a fixed replacement ratio or universal level of income when projecting the level of finances needed to retire. This research enables the reader to determine the threshold that is suited to a senior’s general circumstances.Download Info
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Paper provided by McMaster University in its series Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers with number 240.Length: 67 pages
Date of creation: Jan 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:mcm:sedapp:240
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Web page: http://www.mcmaster.ca/economics/
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Related research
Keywords: Retirement Income Adequacy; Absolute Measure; Elder Standard; Canadian Data;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-AGE-2009-02-14 (Economics of Ageing)
- NEP-ALL-2009-02-14 (All new papers)
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