November 25, 2025

How often have we seen the aspirational dreams of retirement portrayed as the attractive couple relaxing on their boat, or yacht? My guess is that this is a near-universal dream for people all over the world. The boat expresses the freedom that is so attractive and the blue waters and warm sun make an idyllic picture to hold in our minds.

But, boats are rising in cost, (and in size and power) at a brisk rate, pushing the dream further and further out of reach for what I suspect is a significant group of potential buyers. An editorial in the Globe & Mail online last week painted a concerning picture of where our target market of retirees may be going. The headline stated that almost half of Canadian retirees left the work force earlier than they had planned.

The story explained that personal health issues, the need to care for another person, or unexpected issues with their employer pushed them out of the work force. For older people, it’s hard to get back in. The survey from Manulife Group Retirement found that only 15 per cent of early retirees left work because they had saved enough to do so.

It seems that early retirement is rarely a matter of choice. 

“Wealth-effect” has been a positive factor for the boat business for many years as steadily-rising real estate values have made it important and valuable to be in the market, especially for luxury properties in cottage country. And, why have a waterfront property without a boat?

The cottage on the lake has also been very much a part of the dream and we all saw the mad scramble for cottage ownership that was triggered by the Covid 19 pandemic. Today’s economic situation is not as supportive of that.

The stock market, especially in the United States has been rising steadily powered by the expectations of AI being a major force but last week when Nvidia reported solid earnings that met or beat expectations, expectation quickly switched to the thought that the “Fed” would not ease interest rates as hoped and the markets had an end of the week smack-down that may be hard to recover from. It’s another reason for concern in the coming months.

The great news that the Luxury Tax on boats has been dropped, should have really powered a great year for the business but looking at the situation today, it’s plain that there will be head-winds.

Last week was the Boating BC Conference and the Boating Ontario Conference starts December 1^st. We have faced challenges many times before and I have often been impressed by the ability of our peers in the boat business, to navigate their way through difficult times.

Let’s hope that the ideas and conversations at Conference, and then the mood at the big boat shows, guides us to a great summer in 2026.  I think we will all be watching carefully!

Andy Adams – Editor