Despite the pandemic and other disruptive events in the economy, Quebecers have, year after year for the past five years, constantly increased the amount of their RRSP and TFSA contributions for retirement.
According to data compiled by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), at the request of the Journal, the average annual contribution of Quebecers to their Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) has gone from $6,650 in 2017 to $8,880. in 2021. This is an annual contribution increase of 32.33% in five years.
The same trend is observed in the rest of the country, although to a lesser extent, in Quebec. Thus, the average annual contribution of Canadians to their RRSP has increased from $7,140 in 2017 to $8,920 in 2021, an increase – all the same – of 25%.
More than $10,000 in TFSA
Contributions by Quebecers to their Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) have also increased markedly over the past five years, including during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. The average amount of their annual contributions has thus increased from 7,740 $ in 2017 to $10,220 in 2021, a jump of 32%.
Meanwhile, across Canada, the average annual TFSA contribution has risen from $7,510 in 2017 to $10,050 in 2021, according to the latest CRA data, dated October 1, 2022. an annual contribution increase of 33.82% over five years.
Des contributions records
One thing is certain, Quebecers will never have put so much money aside in recent years. For 2021, we are talking about a total of $40 billion in contributions to their RRSPs and TFSAs.
We are talking about 16.5 billion (B$) in RRSPs in 2021, up 12.5% compared to the 14.7 B$ of RRSPs in 2020. Similarly, 23.5 B$ were deposited by Quebecers in a TFSA in 2021, an increase of 20.05% compared to $19.63 billion in 2020.
Across the country, Canadians’ savings reached $167.88 billion in 2021. CRA-listed RRSP contributions hit a record high of $63.98 billion in 2021 (+13% from 2020) . For their part, TFSA contributions reached a total of $103.9 billion (+20.73% compared to 2020), also a record.