According to a recent survey conducted by Pollara for the Bank of Montreal (BMO), 94% of Canadians would give themselves a passing grade on their financial abilities.

BMO's fourth annual Financial Literacy Month Survey revealed that, of the 94% of Canadians who gave themselves a passing grade, 56% would rank their financial abilities at an “A” or “B”. This is up from 45% who gave themselves this kind of grade last year.

Although 88% of those surveyed said they were knowledgeable about budgeting household expenses and managing debt, they were less confident about their ability to manage investments. Just 56% of respondents said they were “knowledgeable” and only 10% described themselves as very “knowledgeable” about investing.

Despite this confidence in their financial knowledge, less than half of the people surveyed said they have put it into practice. While respondents indicated that they would need $965,913 in order to retire, only 43% said they had a financial plan to help them reach this goal.