Cash-strapped Canadians put less into TFSAs in 2016, survey finds

TORONTO — A new survey suggests Canadians contributed less to their tax-free savings accounts last year, mostly because they didn’t have enough money to invest.

The Bank of Montreal’s annual TFSA survey found respondents contributed an average of $4,592 into their accounts last year — $939 less than the year before.

Forty-three per cent indicated that drop was due to a lack of funds, while 36 per cent said they required the cash for other expenses.

Respondents estimated they would contribute even less this year, estimating an average of $4,325.

Pollara conducted the online survey of 1,500 adults polled between Dec. 14 and 19 last year on behalf of BMO.

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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.

The Canadian Press