2023 in numbers

According to the report, in 2023, the investment funds industry:

  • Added $48.1 billion to Canada's GDP accounting for 2.1% of the country's total GDP
  • Ranks among the top 30% of all industries in Canada thanks to a GDP multiplier of 1.13
  • Generated $42.6 billion in revenues
  • Supported 415,320 full-time jobs, representing 2.5% of all full-time jobs in Canada – including 121,259 in the industry itself
  • Had an average annual income of $96,000 with those jobs
  • Contributed $21.7 billion in taxes

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Growth of private retirement savings

Canadians are relying more on personal savings to help fund their retirement, according to additional findings within the report. For those 65 years of age and older, private retirement income, as a percentage of total income, has risen from 18% in 1990 to 33% in 2022.

There has been a simultaneous decline in the proportion of paid workers covered by employer-sponsored pension plans, and a decline in the value.

Now, over half of Canadians own mutual funds and one-quarter own Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). In fact, the number of ETFs more than tripled from 340 in 2014, to 1,126 in 2023 — their net assets quadrupled from $77 billion to $382 billion over that same period.

As well, net assets in responsible investments in mutual funds and ETFs nationwide grew from less than $7 billion to over $56 billion between 2014 and 2023.

The average mutual fund management expense ratio in Canada, for long-term funds, declined from 2.06% to 1.47% between 2013 and 2023. This represents a 29% drop.

Together, mutual funds and ETFs have grown to represent a third of all privately held financial wealth – to the point that investment fund assets are roughly equal in size to the total assets held in Canadian trusteed pension funds.

Sources

1. The Investment Funds Institute of Canada: Funding the Future: The Economic Impact of Canada's Investment Funds Industry, (Sept 26, 2024)

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Nicholas Sokic Contributor

Nicholas completed his master's in journalism and communications at Western University. Since then, he's worked as a reporter at the Financial Post, Healthing.ca, Sustainable Biz Canada and more. Aside from reporting, he also has experience in web production, social media management, photography and video production. His work can also be found in the Toronto Star, Yahoo Finance Canada, Electric Autonomy Canada and Exclaim among others.

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