Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Yesterday Stats Canada posted Portrait of the Canadian Population in 2006, by Age and Sex, 2006 Census where there is more data from the latest Census.

There are more than 4 million folks over the age of 65 in Canada (and that group is growing).

The fastest growing age group between 2001 and 2006 consisted of individuals aged 55 to 64 who are nearing retirement. The census counted nearly 3.7 million in this age group, an increase of 28.1% from 2001. This rate of growth was more than five times the national average of 5.4%.

Amazing numbers to consider, our population continues to age, and the ramifications are going to be interesting to watch:

• Can the government pension fund deal with this aging population?
• How will the medical system in Canada deal with more and more seniors?
• Investments wise, what happens when Canadians (and their American cousin’s) start cashing in their retirement fund investments?

That last one is the one I like to mull over sometimes. There are doom sayers that say when that happens the markets will plummet, because of the liquidation taking place, while others who are more moderate have stated this will cause a downswing on the markets, but retirees are not going to suddenly “cash out”, they are going to draw on these funds in a slower fashion. Either way, it is something to think about when investing.

Something else to think about in investing with an aging population?

• Should I invest in retirement home conglomerates?
• How about the funeral business?
• Drug companies are going to be putting more and more “cures for being old”, out
• The big medical services companies might be interesting as well

Again, you need to really look into these areas, but they are areas to think about that is for sure. I’ll be commenting more on this report over time, since it has a whole whack of interesting data that financially is quite important.