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Whither our youth I scraped in under the wire - well, a little more, actually - on the changes that will affect retirement in Canada. As did much of my generation.

That's small comfort to our children, many of whom are already suffering the after-effects of the financial crisis and recession, and who now also face retirement, interrupted.

Canada's Finance Minister unveiled a budget this week that will, in time, reset the age of retirement to 67 by hiking the age of eligibility for the Old Age Security benefit, worth more than $6,000 a year, from 65. That begins in 2023, and will be phased in, so it doesn't capture the Boomers.

It will, though, hit their kids, many of whom are already struggling with a youth unemployment rate of more than 14 per cent and, according to studies, face a hit to earnings because they graduated in a recession.

Thirty-two per cent of people between the ages of 25 and 54 will be relying on OAS and Canada Pension Plan and Quebec Pension Plan benefits as their prime source of income in retirement, according to a Harris Decima survey commissioned by Bank of Montreal's BMO Retirement Institute.

The change, along with others announced in Thursday's budget, is meant to help sustain the OAS program, which the government warns will cost $108-billion by 2030, compared with $38-billion in 2011.

As some observers note, retirement is still a long way away for many of those affected, and they could start planning immediately.

"At least for those still thinking about retiring at 65, they should be saving a higher percentage of their income now to raise a larger pool of private funds to draw down," said chief economist Avery Shenfeld of CIBC World Markets. "In practice, as opposed to theory, we dont expect that degree of rational planning to materially hit Canadas savings/consumption mix in the near term."

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Retirement, Interrupted: A bleaker outlook for our kids