Even after Covid, many Canadians unprepared for crisis: survey

The pandemic has prompted two-thirds of Canadians to better financially prepare for future crises, but many are still coming up short in their planning, a survey from Edward Jones Canada suggests.

While 67.9% of Canadians surveyed are motivated to better prepare for unexpected emergencies — like an accident or sudden illness — such events would negatively affect more than three-quarters of Canadians’ finances.

Emergencies would hit the millennial and gen X cohorts particularly hard, the study suggested. In both groups, more than 80% of respondents noted there would be adverse effects to their financial security if they experienced an emergency now.

About 70% of respondents said insurance is essential to their overall financial strategy.

The level of individual life insurance claims in almost every month in 2020 increased compared to 2019, a report this year from the Canadian Institute of Actuaries found.

However, Edward Jones found that 53.8% of survey respondents noted they would require some sort of prompt — a news article, a reminder from their financial advisor, or a health scare to them or their loved ones — to contemplate reviewing their insurance coverage.

Google Consumer Surveys conducted the online survey of 1,000 Canadians between July 12 and July 27 on behalf of Edward Jones. No margin of error can be connected to a non-probability sample.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.