Average Savings by Age in Canada (and Why Yours Might Be Fine)

Somewhere between your first paycheque and your fortieth birthday, a question shows up uninvited: should I have more saved by now? It usually arrives after a headline, a friend’s casual mention of their down payment, or a quiet Sunday night with your banking app open.

So let’s answer it properly, with real numbers instead of vibes. Then we’ll talk about why your age group is a surprisingly weak yardstick, and what to measure yourself against instead.

Savings by age in Canada, at a glance

Here is what the household in the middle of each age group actually has, straight from Statistics Canada’s latest Survey of Financial Security. The first column is the money most people mean by “savings”: bank accounts, TFSAs and investments you can get at.

Notice how modest the first column is. Net worth looks huge mostly because it counts the house, and a home is not something you can spend when the car breaks down. The money people can actually reach sits in the tens of thousands, not the hundreds.

What about your decade?

Statistics Canada groups people as under 35, 35 to 44 and so on, which means every decade straddles two groups. So we give you a range that runs between them. If you are early in your decade, you are probably nearer the low end; later, the high end.

• 20s — under about $16,000. The youngest group runs all the way to 34, so most people in their 20s sit below its middle. Canadians aged 25 to 29 with a TFSA had about $13,100 in it on average in 2023 (CRA).
• 30s — $16,000 to $21,000, plus $15,000 to $33,000 in an RRSP if you have one.
• 40s — $21,000 to $25,000, plus $33,000 to $73,000 in an RRSP.
• 50s — $25,000 to $31,000, plus $73,000 to $120,000 in an RRSP.
• 60s — $31,000 to $50,000, plus about $100,000 to $120,000 in an RRSP or RRIF.

Before you compare yourself

A few honest caveats, because these numbers are easy to misread. First, they are medians, the household right in the middle, not averages. That matters a lot: at the end of 2025 the wealthiest 20% of Canadian households held 65.7% of the country’s net worth, while the least wealthy 40% held just 3.0% (Statistics Canada). Average across a spread like that and you get a number almost nobody actually has.

Second, these are per household, and a couple counts once. If you are single, you are comparing one income against what is often two. And third, age tells us nothing about when you started earning, what you pay in rent, or whether you are supporting family. Two 34 year olds can share a birth year and nothing else.

The number that actually matters

Here is the target we would rather you chase: an emergency cushion of 3 to 6 months of your regular expenses. That is the range the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada suggests, and unlike an age table it is built from your own life. Spend $4,000 a month and you are aiming for $12,000 to $24,000.

If that feels far away, you are in good company. About one in four Canadians told Statistics Canada in late 2022 that they could not cover a surprise $500 expense. The way there is rarely “save harder out of guilt.” It is a little money left over most months, high interest debt kept in check, and finding the leaks, like subscriptions you no longer use. Those habits roll up into a financial health score, which is a far fairer read on how you are doing than any age table.

So, is your number fine?

Probably more fine than you think. If you have some cushion, nothing high interest compounding against you, and a little left over most months, you are doing the things that actually build wealth, whatever your age group’s median says. If none of that is true yet, start by seeing where your money is going.

That is what Finally does. Upload your bank statements and you get a free financial checkup: a straight read on where you stand, and the few changes that would move your number the most. No guilt, no jargon, and no pretending a national median is a personal target.