For Canadians looking for a good retirement package, the Registered Retirement Savings Plan or RRSP is a good way to start. It doesn’t offer all of the answers a veteran investor might be looking for, but it has enough benefits to get all levels of investors started on their retirement plan.

For starters, the RRSP allows employees to hold off on their tax payments until they start withdrawing from their account. However, taxpayers should be careful with this benefit as this doesn’t mean they don’t have to pay taxes, just that they delay the inevitable. They’ll only feel the real effect when they’ve begun their retirement withdrawals. Fortunately, any income earned using the plan’s savings are not taxed.

How much an individual contributes to his RRSP will depend on his status as a taxpayer. If the individual is not married, he becomes the sole contributor to the RRSP. For married employees, they have the option of paying towards the RRSP using the income from the higher earner. There are also group or pooled options for employees who want to use a schedule of payroll deductions.

The RRSP isn’t a full- proof plan, and there are limitations and downsides to this retirement plan. Still, it’s a good place to start not only in terms of saving up, but also in terms of understanding the fundamentals of investing early in life.