What’s the Average RRSP Balance for a 20-Year-Old in Canada

If you’re 20 in Canada, your average Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) usually looks tiny, and that’s normal. Many people at that age focus on school, rent, and first jobs, so RRSP saving starts slowly. Statistics Canada shows only 5.1% of tax filers aged 0 to 24 reported an RRSP contribution in 2022, and the median contribution for that group sat at $1,800.

Your room also starts small because it links to earned income, and unused room carries forward year after year. So, is it enough? If your RRSP sits at $0, you’re still in good company at 20. The real goal involves starting, even with a small amount, and building a habit you can scale with your income. If you carry student debt or credit card debt, tackle the high-interest stuff first so investing can actually work for you. So, let’s look at how to get started.

EMA

Emera (TSX:EMA) sits in the boring but beautiful corner of the market. It runs regulated utility businesses, so customers flip switches and pay bills in good times and bad. Emera’s portfolio includes big operations in Florida through Tampa Electric and Peoples Gas, plus Canadian utilities like Nova Scotia Power. When you buy Emera, you buy a steady cash-flow engine that leans on regulators and long-lived infrastructure, not on hype.

The dividend stock acted like a classic defensive name lately. Over the past year, shares have risen about 28%, which stands out for a utility. It also avoided the wild swings that hit trendier corners of the TSX. That matters for young investors, as a calmer ride makes it easier to keep contributing when headlines turn messy.

Zoom out a bit more, and you can see why the market treats Emera like a “sleep-at-night” holding. Utilities usually move with interest rate expectations and regulation headlines, not with sudden product cycles. Emera also tends to reward patience through dividends and modest growth, rather than through fireworks. That profile fits an RRSP mindset, where you want consistency, reinvestment, and time working in your favour.

Earnings support

Now for the part investors actually care about: the latest numbers. In its third-quarter 2025 results, Emera reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.88 and reported EPS of $0.76. The dividend stock also posted adjusted net income of $263 million in the quarter. Those results matter because they show operational momentum, and they help support the dividend.

Valuation looks reasonable for a utility that the market trusts. At writing, the dividend stock trades at 18.5 times earnings, with a dividend yield at 4.3%. You should not buy a utility for a bargain-bin multiple, but you also should not overpay for stability. Emera sits in the middle, and that often works fine for long-term RRSP compounding.

The forward story hangs on investment, regulation, and execution. Emera laid out a five-year $20 billion capital plan for 2026 to 2030, and it extended its rate base growth guidance at 7% to 8% through 2030, with roughly 80% of that spend heading to Florida. That sort of plan can grow earnings over time, but it also brings risks such as cost overruns, storm events, higher interest costs, and regulators pushing back on rate increases.

Bottom line

So, why does Emera help a 20-year-old “boost” an RRSP? It gives you a simple playbook: buy a real business, collect dividends, and reinvest while you build your career. Emera’s regulated model can support steady cash returns, and that can feel motivating when your RRSP starts small. If you set up automatic contributions and reinvest distributions, you turn that $1,800 median contribution into a repeatable habit that compounds into something much bigger. In fact, here’s what it could earn in dividends alone!

COMPANYRECENT PRICENUMBER OF SHARESDIVIDENDANNUAL TOTAL PAYOUTFREQUENCYTOTAL INVESTMENTEMA$67.89103$2.91$299.73Quarterly$6,992.67

You keep it simple while you focus on the biggest driver at 20: growing your income and contributions over time. It also gives you a dividend you can reinvest automatically, which helps you buy more shares without thinking about timing or headlines today.

The post What’s the Average RRSP Balance for a 20-Year-Old in Canada appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

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Fool contributor Amy Legate-Wolfe has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Emera. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.