Poll Reveals Fewer Canadians Contributing to RRSPs Due to Lack of Funds

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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A survey conducted for the Bank of Montreal has revealed that fewer Canadians intend to contribute to their registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) this year. According to the survey, forty-three per cent of respondents are planning to make a contribution to their RRSP by this year’s March 3 deadline, which is a decrement from last years’ 50 per cent.

Furthermore, the survey also inquired about the reasons for which the respondents have decided not to contribute to their RRSP this year, which revealed that almost 37 percent of respondents were short of cash needed to make a contribution, while 33 per cent claimed they had other expenses that had precedence, while the remaining 11 percent had prioritized other investments. In addition to that, the survey also found that more Canadians are getting a head start on their RRSP contributions this year. It was found that almost one-third of the respondents, i.e. 35 per cent, claim that they have already socked away money in an RRSP before the March 3 cutoff date, which is an increment compared with last year’s 30 percent.

Vice-president and head of BMO Wealth Planning Group, Caroline Dabu, mentioned that “it’s reassuring to see that many Canadians are being pro-active by contributing to their RRSPs well ahead of the deadline.” He confirmed “however, according to Statistics Canada the total unused RRSP contribution amount is estimated to exceed $1-trillion by 2018. So we encourage everyone to contribute and contribute as early as possible to avoid the difficulties of having to come up with a large lump sum at the last minute.”