Last year, more Canadians then ever felt that investing for retirement is simply unaffordable, according to a survey released by Bank of Nova Scotia Tuesday.

According to the poll, 64% of Canadians cannot afford to invest any more money. That number is up from 59% in 2011 and 53% in 2010. As a result, only 39% of survey respondents say they intend to make a contribution to a registered retirement savings plan for 2012.

“It’s probably a sign of the times we’ve been living through,” says Mike Henry, senior vice president and head of retail payments, deposits and lending, Scotiabank in Toronto, “there’s still a lot of economic volatility and a lot of uncertainty out there and that does affect people.”

Not only do most Canadians feel that they can’t afford to invest, according to the poll fewer people feel that they have already invested enough for their retirement.
Only 19% of respondents feel that they have already done enough investing, in 2011 that number was 24%.

Survey results show that part of the reason why Canadians feel their investments are insufficient or too costly is because they don’t have a plan. For instance, seventy per cent of respondents who cited affordability as a roadblock to investing don’t have a plan.

“Focusing first and foremost on making sure people have a financial plan is a real key to success here,” says Henry. “Having a financial plan ensures people are ready for all the changes, and all the opportunities and challenges that come with those changes, that happen in life.”

As well, while RRSPs and tax-free savings accounts (TFSA) remain popular investment tools, poll results reveal that not as many Canadians are taking advantage of them as in years past. Of those people surveyed in 2012, 56% said they have an RRSP, down from 60% in 2011. Only 44% of survey respondents reported having a TFSA, compared to 48% in 2011.

One silver lining in the poll is that while many Canadians feel they have a lot of catching up to do, a growing number of younger Canadians are investing earlier. According to the poll results, half of those people surveyed (51%) started to invest before their 30th birthday. Also, the number of Canadians who have not started investing yet declined in 2012 to 17% from 21% in 2011.

The 2012 Scotiabank Investment Poll results came from 1,003 online surveys of Harris/Decima proprietary panel members aged 18 years and older. The surveys were conducted between Nov. 28 and Dec. 13, 2012.