78% of grads are optimistic, but 20% have no insurance at all

Recent Canadian graduates remain broadly optimistic about their financial futures, with 78% describing themselves as either optimistic and confident (23%) or uncertain but hopeful (55%), a new Securian Canada report found.

That optimism holds even though 81% are employed, 64% full-time, and 59% can set money aside monthly. The survey was conducted in collaboration with Angus Reid Group.

"Canada's recent graduates are entering the next stage of their lives with ambition and a clear desire to build a secure future," said Nigel Branker, Securian Canada's CEO. "At the same time, they are navigating financial pressures that are shaping how they define career progress and success."

Optimism and financial fragility coexist uncomfortably

The report's most important finding for an insurance audience sits beneath the optimism headline: nearly half of recent graduates (45%) could cover less than three months of basic expenses if their income stopped today, and 40% describe themselves as struggling or just managing financially.

More than three-quarters (78%) carry some form of debt, split between credit card balances (42%) and student loans (33%), and even three to five years after graduating, 47% still report difficulty covering housing and loan costs.

Those pressures are delaying major life milestones directly: 52% are postponing homeownership, 29% are delaying marriage or long-term relationships, and 28% are delaying starting a family.

A fifth have no protection of any kind

One in five recent graduates report having none of the following: life insurance, health and dental insurance, critical illness insurance, creditor insurance, or balance protection insurance.

That figure is directionally consistent with what this desk has already documented in Gen Z-specific insurance research this year: PolicyMe's 2026 Life Insurance Gap Report found Gen Z coverage rates had jumped from 30% to 58% year over year, meaning even with that improvement, a substantial share of young Canadians remain uninsured, and TD Insurance's own survey found 56% of Gen Z respondents view life insurance as something that can be put off until later in life, compared with 41% of Canadians overall.

Why the comprehension gap matters

The more striking, less-discussed finding here is conceptual rather than behavioural: only 25% of recent graduates associate "financial protection" with insurance at all.

Nearly a third (31%) associate it primarily with savings or government programs like the Ontario Disability Support Program, Employment Insurance, or Workers' Compensation Board benefits, and 18% are unsure what financial protection means or what they should associate it with.

That's a meaningfully different problem than affordability or procrastination; it suggests a segment of young Canadians aren't failing to buy insurance because they've weighed it and decided against it, they're failing to identify insurance as a relevant category of solution to a risk they already recognize they're carrying.

"It's reassuring to see that recent graduates are optimistic about their future, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're on a path to long-term financial security," Branker said, calling for "simpler and more accessible insurance solutions."

For advisors and brokers, the practical implication is that a conversation with a recent graduate client may need to start a step earlier than with an older client: not "do you have enough coverage," but "do you understand that insurance is one of the tools available to address this specific financial risk you've told me you're worried about."

Given that a fifth of this cohort has no protection at all and roughly a third don't conceptually connect financial protection to insurance, advisors working with younger clients should treat basic categorization, explaining what insurance actually does relative to savings or government programs, as a necessary first step rather than assuming that framing is already understood.