RRSP season offers opportunity to fill client knowledge gaps

If pandemic lockdowns resulted in your clients sitting on extra cash, the upcoming RRSP deadline may be on their minds. As advisors seize that opportunity, they may also want to fill knowledge gaps that clients have about retirement, as revealed by a recent IG Wealth Management poll.

Two-thirds (62%) of polled Canadians had RRSPs, the poll found. And of these, more than half (57%) said they’ll make an RRSP contribution by March 1. From there, retirement planning know-how dropped.

Only one-fifth of respondents (21%) understood their insurance needs or how they’ll be taxed in retirement. A slightly smaller proportion (18%) had considered their monthly budgets in retirement or had estate plans (19%).

In addition to those topics, a potential talking point for advisors and clients is income splitting. The poll found that in 57% of couples, spouses had discussed retirement plans with each other, leaving 43% who hadn’t. Advisors can facilitate those conversations, and clients will likely be grateful if part of the discussion is about planning for retirement income when one spouse dies.

For those fortunate clients with pandemic-padded bank accounts, a call to action this RRSP season in the context of goals and outcomes may result in improved and permanent savings habits.

The average amount held in an RRSP was $133,000, the IG poll found.

The online poll was conducted from Jan. 13 to 18 with a sample of 2,000 Canadians weighted to be representative of the population. The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys can’t be assigned a margin of error because they don’t randomly sample the population.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.