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A new CIBC poll says that if experience is any guide, most Canadians will likely find themselves in debt years longer than they expect.

The poll, conducted for CIBC (CM-T71.20-0.94-1.30%) by Harris-Decima reveals that, on average, Canadians holding some form of debt today feel they will be debt-free by age 55.

But the poll also found that the reality is that only about 35 per cent of Canadians in the 55-to-64 age group — or just over a third — are actually debt free.

And the findings appeared to hold true for all age groups.

For example, Canadians 25 to 34, on average, told the pollsters they expected to be debt-free by age 44. But the poll found that only 18 per cent of Canadians now in the 45-to-54 age group are, in fact, debt free.

The telephone survey of 2,008 Canadians conducted between June 30 and July 10 is considered to have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points 19 times out of 20.