The 12th annual RRSP Poll sponsored by RBC Financial Group found that 72% of Canadians did not review or make changes to their RRSP portfolios in 2002.

The RBC/Ipsos-Reid poll found 36% of Canadian RRSP investors are not sure of the current value of their portfolio and 32% of those planning to contribute, do not know how much they will contribute to their RRSP this year.

Some 38% of investors have not reviewed their RRSP portfolio over the past 12 months and of those who did, 59% have not made any adjustments to their portfolios during 2002. Twenty-one per cent of investors also revealed that they do not know the current rate of return on their RRSP, and another 44% expect losses up to 20%.

“The last two years of equity investing have been sobering for many Canadians. It’s not surprising some investors are uncertain of what to do next,” said Matt Varey, senior vice-president, RBC Investments Financial Planning.

The poll also found that 51% of Canadian RRSP investors have RRSP investments in mutual funds, with 36% having mutual funds as the greatest portion of their portfolio. However, 41% of investors do not know what type of mutual funds they hold.

The survey also revealed that while the majority of Canadians (80%) rank themselves with an average or limited level of investment knowledge, 76% say they prefer to manage their financial affairs on their own or with limited advice.

These are the findings of an RBC/Ipsos-Reid poll conducted by telephone between November 7th and November 24, 2002. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,200 Canadians 18 years of age or older. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within (+/-) 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population.