An online study by Ipsos Reid for Sun Life Financial interviewed 1,239 Canadians last month about their financial situation this year.
The survey found that overall 57% of Canadians felt they were not any better off than they were a year ago. A disproportionate amount of women and those aged 55 and older (61%) felt this way. Only 28% of those surveyed however did say their finances had improved compared to last year 🙂
Across the country Albertans were not surprisingly most likely to have improved their financial situation, followed by those in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. People in Quebec were least likely, with 63% saying their financial position was no better than a year ago.
“It’s concerning that a majority of Canadians aren’t feeling better off financially than they were last year as we head into a holiday season where we tend to spend more and save less. Canadians can take steps toward feeling better by putting a financial plan in writing and perhaps consider it as a new year’s resolution.” -Sun Life president Kevin Dougherty.
It appears that most Canadians need to take their personal finances more seriously 😕 The survey found that only 36% of Canadians contribute to an RRSP, but for those who felt their financial situation had improved, the RRSP participation rate jumps to 50%.
Tip of the day: To better your chances of improving your financial situation, buy contribute to RRSPs 🙂 Also, TFSAs are really good too, often better than RRSPs actually.
You don’t “buy RRSPs”, you purchase securities and hold them within a RRSP.
Here’s more advice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC6JhvM0jWM
Good catch M.K. I’ll be sure to correct that. Lol, that’s a pretty random video.Thanks for sharing 🙂
Story of the day: I was talking to my co-worker and he told me he does not believe in RRSPs or TFSAs. I almost fainted!
That’s too bad for him. The nice thing about RRSPs is that it’s real whether or not you believe in it.
A friendly note that to be more accurate, you don’t actually “buy an RRSP”, you contribute to an RRSP plan.
You have to open an RRSP account at a bank, and then buy things like mutual funds under that plan.
🙂
It confuses a lot of people new to the PF game when you say “buy RRSPs” or “buy TFSAs”. You can’t actually buy them, it’s a plan you contribute to.
Oops, thanks for noticing that. Yes, both RRSPs and TFSAs are just accounts to hold cash or investments in 🙂 And some people even have multiple RRSPs.