On average, Canadians are worrying about finances 15 hours per week, with younger people even more stressed than older Canadians, according to a Scotiabank poll released Wednesday.
This is up from 10 hours per week from the same time last year. Scotiabank says this worrying works out to about 31 days a year.
Notably, Gen Z, Millennials and Gen Xers are significantly more stressed about their finances than Boomers.
Results from the company’s fourth annual worry poll show that Canadians spend the most time worrying about paying for day-to-day expenses, paying off debt and saving for emergencies.
One in four Canadians are so stressed about their finances that they are losing sleep over it, Scotiabank reported. Notably, women are more stressed about their finances than men.
“Canadians continue to feel the impact of higher prices on their wallets, and this is leading to more time spent worrying,” Senior Vice President, Deposits, Investments & Payments at Scotiabank Kingsley Chak said in a release. “For most Canadians, their income has not kept pace with the rising costs of what they buy, with groceries and gas continuing to be the biggest drivers of strain for households.”
While affordability is clearly a concern for Canadians, one in five expect their financial situation to get even worse in the next six months, and 57 per cent of Canadians are making small concessions on the things they want in order to afford the things they need.
From Jan. 24 to 25, an online survey of 1,505 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Maru Voice Canada panelists was conducted by Maru/Blue on behalf of Scotiabank. The overall data is weighted by age, gender, and region to be representative of the Canadian adult population. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.
