How much do 35-year-old Canadians need right now to comfortably retire at 65? The honest answer is that there’s no single magic number.
Retirement planning is deeply personal, shaped by income, lifestyle, family responsibilities, and financial discipline. Still, that doesn’t mean Canadians are left guessing. With a few reasonable assumptions and a long-term mindset, it’s possible to build a realistic roadmap toward financial independence.
Rather than fixating on an arbitrary figure like $1 million, the smarter approach is to picture the life you want in retirement. Will your mortgage be paid off? Do you plan to travel frequently? Will you still be supporting children or even grandchildren? These lifestyle decisions matter far more than any headline number.
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Start with income, then adjust for reality
A commonly used rule of thumb is that retirees need about 70% of their pre-retirement income to maintain a similar lifestyle. However, this is only a starting point. Some retirees spend far less, while others spend more due to travel, hobbies, or healthcare costs.
According to Statistics Canada, the median employment income for Canadians aged 35-44 was $60,900 in 2023. Adjusting for inflation at a 3% rate brings that figure to roughly $66,547 today. 70% of that income equals about $46,583 per year, or $3,882 per month, as a baseline retirement income target.
But inflation doesn’t stop there.
Inflation: The silent retirement risk
Inflation quietly erodes purchasing power over time, making it one of the biggest risks facing future retirees. For example, if you can live comfortably on $3,000 per month today, and inflation averages 3% annually, you’d need approximately $7,282 per month in 30 years to maintain the same standard of living.
That reality makes saving alone insufficient. Money sitting in cash or low-yield accounts loses value over time. To protect — and ideally grow — purchasing power, Canadians need to invest.
After setting aside an emergency fund covering three to six months of living expenses, long-term savings can be put to work. Historically, stocks have delivered the highest long-term returns, making them a powerful tool for retirement planning, especially for younger investors with decades ahead of them.
Using dividend growth to build retirement income
Stock markets can be volatile, but one way to add stability is by focusing on dividend-paying companies, particularly those with a history of growing payouts. Dividend income can provide steady cash flow regardless of short-term market fluctuations.
One example is goeasy (TSX:GSY), a Canadian non-prime lender. It’s a higher-risk stock, but that risk comes with significant return potential — something 35-year-olds with long time horizons can afford to consider. While goeasy is sensitive to interest rate changes and economic downturns, it has repeatedly demonstrated resilience across cycles.
Over the past decade, goeasy has been Canada’s top dividend growth stock, posting an average dividend growth rate of roughly 30% annually.
At around $132 per share, it currently trades at an estimated 30% discount to its long-term valuation and offers a compelling 4.4% dividend yield.
Even if future dividend growth slows to just 10% annually, an investor today could see a yield on cost exceeding 11% in 10 years, 29% in 20 years, and nearly 77% in 30 years, creating a powerful income stream for retirement.
Investor takeaway
For 35-year-old Canadians, retiring at 65 isn’t about guessing a single number — it’s about planning intentionally. By estimating future income needs, accounting for inflation, and investing in growth-oriented and dividend-paying stocks, Canadians can steadily build the income required for a comfortable retirement. Starting early, staying invested, and focusing on income growth can make all the difference.
