Canadians Are Expecting Greater Returns From Their RRSP Portfolios In 2004

Toronto, ON - According to a survey by Ipsos-Reid on behalf of RBC, over half (54%) of Canadians who plan to contribute to an RRSP in 2003 anticipate a positive rate of return from their RRSP portfolio in 2004. This represents a 38 percent increase over last year where nearly four-in-ten (39%) indicated that they anticipate a positive rate of return for 2003.

Nearly half (45%) of RRSP contributors anticipate that their RRSP portfolios will achieve gains of up to 10 percent (19% anticipate a 1% to 4% gain, 26% anticipate a 5% to 10% gain). On average, RRSP contributors expect a 6.3 percent rate of return in their RRSPs over the course of the upcoming year, this represents a significant increase from the no change (zero return) expected last year.

These are the findings of an RBC/Ipsos-Reid poll conducted between October 6th and October 24th, 2003. The telephone survey is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,205 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data. Increased Appetite For Risk

Increased expectation of reward may be the result of an increased willingness to take risk. Canadians have somewhat increased their appetite for risk with over one-third (35%) stating that they are willing to take at least some risk for above-average returns (8% "willing to take a fair amount of risk to achieve above-average returns," 27% "willing to take some risk to achieve above-average returns"), up smartly 10 points over the last year (25%). One-third (34%) "would only take a little bit of risk" and three in ten (30%) "would not take any risk with their investments." The remaining 1% is unsure.

Please open the attached PDF files to view the factum and detailed tables.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:
John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900