There’s a significant opportunity to educate would-be clients in Canada – two separate surveys released this week show that Canadians are generally uninformed about investing. Although the majority are worried about having enough money in retirement, a significant percentage don’t have a financial plan in place, and many don’t realize that investing even small amounts can be beneficial.

The first report from CIBC found that 77 per cent of Canadians are worried about having enough money in retirement. It adds that many do not have a financial plan. It found that 11 per cent don’t have any savings at all, and will rely solely on the Canadian Pension Plan and Old Age Security to get by. Another 26 per cent say they are not at all confident in the retirement plans they have in place. More than one third, 35 per cent said they worry about outliving their savings.

The second report from the TD Bank Group found that 41 per cent of those surveyed don’t know where to start when it comes to investing. The majority, 58 per cent admit they don’t know the difference between a mutual fund and an exchange-traded fund; 38 per cent were unclear about the difference between a stock and a bond. The survey also found that 25 per cent don’t believe that investing small amounts of money can bring any benefits. Only 30 per cent of those surveyed knew that it is possible to start investing with less than $100.