In 2005, Canadians thought they needed $447,000 to retire comfortably.

Adjust that for inflation to 2025 dollars and you get roughly $685,000. A big number, sure. But reasonable. Trackable. The kind of goal that feels achievable if you start early enough and don't do anything stupid.

Here's what actually happened: Canadians now say they need $1,020,000.

That's not inflation. Inflation would've gotten us to $685K. This is $335,000 beyond inflation. In twenty years, our collective sense of "enough" grew 50% faster than prices did.

So if you feel like the goalposts keep moving, you're not imagining it. They literally are. The question is why—and whether $1 million is actually the number that matters for you.

The Four Forces That Blew Past Inflation

Fidelity's 2025 Retirement Report identifies what changed. None of it is surprising on its own. But stack them together and you get a perfect storm of anxiety.

Force #1: Retirement got complicated.

88% of Canadians agree that retirement is more complex than it was 20 years ago. Fewer pensions. More investment options (and noise). Bigger decisions around CPP timing, drawdown strategies, and tax optimization. Twenty years ago, many people had a defined benefit pension and a rough idea of when they'd stop working. Now you're running a one-person financial planning operation whether you like it or not.

Complexity breeds uncertainty. Uncertainty breeds "better save more just in case."

Force #2: We watched prices sprint.

Groceries. Rent. Mortgages. Insurance. Property taxes. Utilities. Canadians have spent the last few years watching their monthly expenses climb in ways that felt visceral and immediate.

Once your brain absorbs that kind of price shock, your internal model of "what retirement will cost" gets rewritten. You stop trusting the old math. You start padding the number.

Force #3: The world feels unstable.

The report explicitly calls out global political uncertainties affecting financial stability. Translation: people are pricing in chaos. Market crashes. Policy changes. Currency surprises. Slow-growth decades.

When the world feels like it could go sideways at any moment, you don't aim for "just enough." You aim for a cushion thick enough to absorb whatever comes.

Force #4: "Comfortable" means something different now.

Twenty years ago, comfortable retirement meant a paid-off home, modest vacations, a simple car, and basic hobbies.

Now it often includes international travel, helping adult kids with weddings or down payments, active lifestyles with clubs and courses and experiences, and sometimes a second act of entrepreneurship that requires capital.

People aren't just planning for retirement. They're planning for a longer, more active, more expensive chapter of life. The target number reflects that ambition.

The Real Kicker: Working Longer AND Saving More

Here's where it gets interesting.

46% of pre-retirees say they may postpone retirement beyond what they originally planned. The average retirement age has already shifted from 61 in 2005 to 65 today. Only 26% of current pre-retirees expect to retire before 65.

People are planning to work longer. And they still think they need a million dollars.

That tells you how heavy the cost-of-living anxiety is running right now. Even with extra years of income built into the plan, Canadians don't feel like it's enough.

Meanwhile, 85% of respondents say retirement isn't about stopping work entirely—it's about transitioning to flexible work or passion projects. The "freedom 55" dream has morphed into "phase two with a different pace." People expect to keep earning something in retirement, and they're still targeting a seven-figure nest egg.

Is $1 Million Actually the Right Number?

Here's the uncomfortable truth: $1 million is a psychological anchor, not a universal invoice.

Let's do quick napkin math. Take the old 4% rule (not gospel, but a starting point). 4% of $1,000,000 = $40,000 per year in portfolio withdrawals. Add CPP and OAS for many Canadians, and you might land somewhere around $60K-$70K in total annual retirement income.

For someone with a paid-off house in a mid-cost city, modest travel plans, and no debt? That's probably fine. Maybe even comfortable.

For someone renting in Vancouver with lingering debt and expensive tastes? That $1 million suddenly looks tight.

The number that matters isn't the national average. It's your number—based on your expenses, your housing situation, your CPP credits, your timeline, and the lifestyle you actually want.

Which brings us to the most important finding in the entire report.

The 51-Point Confidence Gap

90% of Canadians with a written financial plan feel financially prepared for retirement.

Among those without a written plan? 55%.

For pre-retirees specifically, the gap is even starker: 81% with a plan feel prepared versus just 39% without one.

That's not a rounding error. That's a 42-point swing in confidence based on whether you've written down a plan.

The report also notes that 85% of those with a written plan worked with a financial advisor to build it. But here's what that really means: people who take planning seriously—who actually sit down and map out their numbers—feel dramatically better about their future.

It's not "hit $1M or panic." It's "understand your actual situation and the anxiety drops."

What Actually Moves the Needle

If you're 5-10 years from retirement and feeling the weight of that $1 million number, here's what the data suggests actually helps:

Get specific about YOUR number. Not the national average. Yours. What annual income do you want in retirement? What will CPP and OAS contribute? Is your home paid off? How long are you planning for? Run the scenarios. See what your actual gap looks like—it might be smaller than you think, or it might require action. Either way, knowing beats guessing.

Stress-test for reality. Don't just model the rosy scenario where markets return 7% annually and nothing goes wrong. Model what happens if you need to retire two years early. Model a market drop. Model living to 95. If your plan only works in the good case, it's not a plan.

Pull the levers you can control. There are really only a few: save more now, work a bit longer, adjust lifestyle expectations, or use your home strategically (downsize, relocate, pay it off). You probably don't need all of them. But you likely need two working in combination.

Think in income, not just assets. The real question isn't "do I have $1 million?" It's "can I generate the monthly cash flow I need?" Someone with $700K, solid CPP credits, and a paid-off house might be in better shape than someone with $1 million, no pension, and a big mortgage.

The Real Takeaway

The $1 million number is real in the sense that it reflects genuine anxiety. Canadians feel like retirement is harder than it used to be, and they're not wrong. Complexity is up. Certainty is down. Costs have spiked in ways that rewired our expectations.

But $1 million isn't a magic threshold that separates "okay" from "not okay." It's a national mood ring.

What actually separates the confident from the anxious isn't hitting some arbitrary asset target. It's clarity. Knowing your numbers. Understanding what CPP actually pays. Seeing how different scenarios play out.

The people who feel prepared aren't the ones who happened to save the most. They're the ones who stopped guessing and started calculating.

That's the gap worth closing.