Note: This article is part of Morningstar's January 2015 RRSP Check-up special report.
Statistics Canada's most recent RRSP contribution analysis was for 2012 and indicated that less than a quarter of all tax filers contributed to an RRSP that year. By some estimates, the $35.7 billion contributed that year represented under 5% of the overall contribution room available to Canadians.
It is true that many Canadians have their retirement contributions covered through defined-benefit plans, or may be choosing to invest via other types of accounts. One must also acknowledge that making a retirement contribution may be too much of a financial burden for some. All that said, there appears to be a lot of potential retirement planning not happening.
