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There is supposed to be no such thing as free lunch in this world, but an unnecessary number of Canadians will be a lot hungrier at retirement because they gave up that offer on a platter.

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We spend endless hours looking for ways to maximize investments, but a guaranteed 100 per cent return through employers’ matching contributions is sitting right in front of some of us.

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The single biggest mistake Canadians make, especially younger ones, isn’t picking the wrong investments; it’s leaving huge sums of employer-matching contributions on the table.

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When your company offers to match your retirement investment, you’ve already won. Yet, roughly 10 to 20 per cent of Canadians look at that guaranteed win and turn it down, leaving those millions on the table.

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A recent Sun Life Financial Inc. survey, conducted with Ipsos in the summer of 2025, examined Sun Life plan members with employer-sponsored savings plans and found that while 90 per cent of those surveyed took the full match, a stubborn minority still missed out.

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The math is simple, even if the paperwork to join a plan is a chore. The maximum employee match in the survey was as much as 5.6 per cent. If you’re pulling in $100,000 a year and you tuck away $5,600 into your retirement plan and your company hands you another $5,600, you just doubled your money. Try making that bet at the track.

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The online research study surveyed 1,981 members aged 25 to 75 in the summer of 2025.

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Bernadette Chik, the leader of the defined contribution advisory business at Mercer Canada, a business of Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc., said participation varies. The more generous the plan, the higher the participation, she said, but 80 to 90 per cent is the range.

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“Even when we see some plans that default people into one at the full rate, people peel it back,” Chik said, noting that some employees try to opt out of the very programs designed to save them. “Getting to 100 per cent is very difficult.”

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Why the hesitation? Some people just don’t expect to have a long tenure at the job, and saving for retirement doesn’t resonate. Toronto-Dominion Bank’s recent survey found that only 43 per cent of generation Z contribute to RRSPs, compared with 79 per cent of baby boomers and 68 per cent of millennials.

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The retirement mindset doesn’t seem to be as strong in the younger demographic.

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“Some employers are trying to be smarter with how the plan is communicated and moving away from calling it a retirement plan to a flexible savings plan,” Chik said. “Over the last 20 years, the rigidity of these programs has changed.”

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There’s also the lingering fear that your money is locked away in a vault you can’t touch. While deferred profit sharing plans (DPSPs) generally restrict you from touching the employer’s portion until you leave the company, the Canada Revenue Agency has strict rules ensuring that money is yours eventually.