A new survey says 53% of Canadians in their 50s plan to continue working in retirement to offset their low savings.

Of the more than 800 baby boomers surveyed, 61% said they haven't saved as much as they expected to.

"The retirement landscape is shifting as the baby boomers reach traditional retirement age with a smaller nest egg than they expected to have," Christina Kramer, executive vice-president of retail distribution and channel strategy for CIBC, said in a release Monday. "Many Canadians are now planning to draw on multiple sources of income, including employment, to fund their retirement."

Under those circumstances, Kramer said it's important to plan for the unexpected, such as an illness that may prevent a retiree from working as much as they would like.

The survey found 45% of boomers said they've saved less than $100,000 to sustain them in their golden years.

When the figures are broken down by region, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have the highest percentage of boomers who plan to work in retirement (59%), followed by Alberta (57%), Ontario (55%), the Atlantic provinces (54%), BC (49%) and Quebec (47%).

Leger Marketing conducted the survey online July 5-8 on behalf of CIBC. The margin of error is 3.45 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Boomers aren't the only ones who may have troubling retiring when they would like. Another Leger Marketing survey released earlier this month found many young Canadians may have unrealistic expectations about retirement.

Almost half of the respondents aged 18-35 (41%) said they plan to retire before they turn 60, compared to only 8% of boomers over 55. This despite the fact that just 10% of the young adult respondents said they think a lot about how much money they'll need to save or how long their retirement might last (less than 5%).