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Some employers offer group RRSPs, which are a convenient way to help you consistently save, since contributions are automatically deducted from your payroll, and can offer lower management fees. 

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Kempton recommended revisiting your employment package regularly. “Make sure you’re taking a look at what you’re invested in, (how much) you’re contributing (and) is it consistent with the rest of your investment approach, or was it just what you picked on Day 1 of that job?” Kempton said. 

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Some employers offer an RRSP matching program, where they contribute to your savings, too.  

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Guillaume Dumais, a Quebec-based financial planning professional at Objective Financial Partners Inc., said if you’re aiming for a $10,000 contribution in your RRSP for the year and your employer is matching you dollar-for-dollar, you only need to contribute $5,000, while your employer puts in the rest.  

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“When someone offers you something for free, you take it,” he said.   

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Reinvest your tax refund 

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Always reinvest your tax refund, said Ed Rempel, a fee-for-service financial planner and tax accountant based in Toronto.  

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When you contribute to your RRSP and claim a deduction, you can get up to 50 per cent back as an income tax refund, depending on your marginal tax rate and any tax payments made during the year, such as through payroll deductions.  

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“A lot of people get a refund and spend it,” Rempel said. “If you reinvest the refund, then the refund is also growing, and you could be ahead.” 

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You can also use an RRSP top-up strategy, where you estimate how much you could receive as a tax refund ahead of time, borrow that amount from a line of credit to invest in your RRSP, and use your tax refund to repay the loan, Rempel said. This strategy boosts your savings and gives it more time to grow without impacting your day-to-day cash flow. 

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“Say you’re going to contribute $10,000 to the RRSP and you get 40 per cent back — you get a $4,000 refund,” Rempel said. But if you want to contribute $16,500 to your RRSP, you could borrow the extra $6,500 from a line of credit, get $6,600 back as your tax refund and repay your loan.  

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“You put in only $10,000 of your cash flow, but you just put $16,500 into your RRSP,” Rempel said. 

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Split your income with your spouse 

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It’s important to do your retirement planning as a household, not as an individual, said Dumais. 

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Co-ordinate with your spouse or partner when making contributions to your RRSP or TFSA, especially if one of you earns significantly more income than the other, Dumais said.  

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A spousal RRSP, for example, allows you to contribute funds to your spouse’s RRSP up to your personal contribution limit, without affecting your spouse’s contribution limit. This lets you lower your overall household tax bill, as the higher-income spouse benefits from a higher tax deduction, while the lower-income spouse gets taxed at a lower marginal tax rate than you would have when the funds are withdrawn during retirement.  

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Rempel provided an example where one spouse has worked their entire career and the other doesn’t earn income at all, but the couple is collectively living on $100,000 in retirement.

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If the working spouse contributed only to their own RRSP, their retirement income of $100,000 a year means the working spouse pays about $22,000 a year in income tax. However, if the working spouse contributed equally to both, then each spouse has a taxable income of $50,000 a year and would pay about $7,500 a year in tax, which amounts to a total $15,000 a year.