(December 18 – 11:00 ET) – As year-end approaches, 80%of Toronto professionals will receive a bonus cheque and, according to a poll of GTA business professionals, 45% of bonuses disappear without any investment for the future.

The poll, commissioned by Investors Group was conducted between December 11 and December 15 with 100 Toronto area professionals. It revealed that approximately 40% of Toronto area professionals expect to receive a bonus of $5,000 or more.

Almost 50% of the respondents use their year-end bonus to buy holiday season gifts and pay bills, rather than investing for the future. Only 16% of those surveyed plan to invest a portion of their year-end bonus toward retirement.

To help, Investors Group is showing investors ways to use their year-end bonus to brighten both this holiday season and the ones they celebrate after retirement.

Professionals who spend their entire bonus pay full taxes upon receipt of the money. The biggest incentive to investing even part of your annual bonus comes from the benefit of compound interest. With compound interest a $5,000 investment by a 35 year-old today can be worth more than $54,000 at 60 years old.

“Year-end bonus time provides a perfect opportunity to accelerate your retirement so that you can retire richer and sooner,” said, Vas Pachapurkar, Toronto area regional director, Investors Group. “Many of our clients shave years off their retirement countdown simply by investing a portion of all bonuses throughout their careers.”

To help Canadians who want to retire sooner, Investors Group has introduced The Retirement Countdown, a guide to fine-tuning existing investment plans, setting retirement goals and assessing the feasibility of those goals.

Retirement Countdown is part of an eight-part series of thoroughly researched, insightful Life Event Reports. Investors Group’s Life Event Reports present a holistic financial planning approach to people who face retirement, divorce, death of a spouse, caring for aging parents or other life stages that change their personal financial picture.
-IE Staff