Three-quarters of Canadians have contributed to RRSPs in the past, yet only 56% are contributing to RRSPs this year and only 20% are maximizing their contributions, according to poll results released today by MSN.CA.

The online poll of 1,600 Canadian men and women aged 18 and older was conducted between January 20 and 28 among visitors to MSN.CA by OpenVenue e-Research Solutions.

According to those polled, when it comes to receiving information about their investments, 50% of Canadian contributors boot up their computers and use the Internet as a resource. Similarly, the poll results indicated that when it comes to making investment decisions, the Internet is the third most popular source of information (26%), behind banks (44%) and financial planners (40%).

Canadians who contribute to RRSPs are most interested in learning which products to invest in (67%), how much they can contribute (29%) and whether to finance their RRSP contributions (20%).

The survey showed that, of those polled, Canadian contributors invest in their RRSPs in multiple ways. Lump deposits are the most popular means of contribution (50%), followed by bank account transfers (39%) and paycheque deductions (27%).

Financing an RRSP — for example, by taking out a loan — was the least popular way of contributing: fewer than four in 10 Canadians have financed their RRSPs in previous years and only two in 10 Canadians plan to do so this year.

For the one-quarter of Canadians who contributed to RRSPs in the past but chose not to contribute this year, the top two reasons are affordability (38%) and a focus on other financial priorities (35%).