More than two thirds of Cdns made an RRSP contribution: poll

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – If you think of yourself as an average British Columbian, a poll indicates you probably put less into your RRSP before the deadline yesterday.

The survey for the Bank of Montreal shows respondents in this province contributed about $2,900, down about $250 from the previous year, compared to a national decrease of just $26. We’re also well below the national average of more than $3,500.

The poll found more than two thirds of all Canadians made a contribution to a Registered Retirement Savings Plan before the deadline, which expired at midnight Monday night.

Three out of five BC respondents say they contributed to an RRSP, with the same number saying they wish they were able to contribute more.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents nationwide and in BC intend to spend their tax refund paying down their mortgage (18%), travel or leisure items (16%) or home renovations or household expenses (10%), rather than save or invest it.

Chris Buttigieg, senior manager of wealth planning strategy at BMO Financial Group, notes that Canadians are juggling other priorities such as mortgages, car payments and month-to-month living expenses.

More than half of those surveyed said they were contributing as much as they could, although 35 per cent of respondents said they could have contributed more, according to results of the survey released Tuesday.

The survey also found that one in three who anticipated getting money back from the Canada Revenue Agency after making an RRSP contribution planned on saving or reinvesting the return, while one in four planned to pay down non-mortgage debt.

The top investment choices for those surveyed were mutual funds at 49 per cent; guaranteed investment certificates at 35 per cent; bonds at 18 per cent; stocks at 17 per cent and exchange traded funds at 12 per cent, the survey said.

Now that this year’s deadline has passed, Buttigieg is encouraging Canadians to think ahead and consider setting up a savings plan budget for next year’s RRSP contribution.

Canadians have about $500 billion in unused RRSP contributions and that’s expected to increase to $1 trillion by 2018, Buttigieg said.

The online survey was conducted by Pollara market research firm with an online sample of 1,007 Canadians from Feb. 21 to Feb. 25. The polling industry’s professional body, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

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