There are just days left until the RRSP deadline. So if you haven't made a contribution yet  -- or haven't opened an RRSP -- Bruce Sellery has just one question for you: why in the world not?

"You can defer tax on almost 18 per cent of your income! That's huge! What more of an incentive is there than that?" the personal finance trainer asks rhetorically, then sighs, "But still, less than 50 per cent of Canadians will take advantage of it."

Sellery, the former Business News Network anchor-turned-personal finance trainer, never ceases to be amazed at how otherwise intelligent Canadians can be so absolutely clueless when it comes to their money.

It's why he's made a new career out of explaining the basics of personal finance, leading to his recent book, "Moolala: Why Smart People Do Dumb Things With Their Money (And What You Can Do About It)."

Sellery tells CTV.ca he thinks most Canadians get hobbled by too much information about what to do with their money. They get confused this time of year, when it comes time to choose between topping up their RRSPs or opening up one of the newer tax-free savings accounts.

For Sellery, there really isn't a contest: RRSPs win hands-down.

"It's not, in my opinion, an either-or thing. It's: start with an RRSP and only in certain cases, use a TFSA," he says.

That's exactly what Sellery writes in Moolala: "Most people need to focus on RRSP and RESPs than TFSAs." In fact, that's pretty much all Sellery's book has to say about tax-free savings accounts. The reason he gives the savings vehicle only scant attention is because he's so convinced that most Canadians need to focus on the fundamentals.

"One of core tenets of my book is managing complexity," he explains.

"There is so much financial information coming at people all the time, they don't know what to do. The tax-free savings account has made that worse. Now people think there are two options of equal value that they need to choose between," he says. "So my starting point is always RRSP, RRSP, RRSP."

The key advantage RRSPs have over tax-free savings accounts, Sellery explains, is the way they allow users to delay paying taxes on the income they put into the plan.

"The RRSP is awesome for its tax deferral. It's awesome! It's huge!" he exuberantly insists in a phone interview from his Calgary home.

The other reason RRSPs trump tax-free savings accounts, he says, is that it's no easy task to withdraw money out of an RRSP. Sure, it isn't impossible, but nowhere near as easy as a TFSA, which Sellery compares to "an instabank."

"The incentive to keep your money tucked away is way more compelling in an RRSP than a tax-free savings account. With a TFSA you can pop your money in, you can pop your money out," he says.

"It's like me and brownies: If I have brownies in the house, they will be consumed. So get those brownies out of the house! Get them out! With the TFSA, the brownies are in the house. They might be in the freezer, but they're in the house. With an RRSP, there's just no brownies," he says, noting somewhat sheepishly that yes, he has a thing for brownies.

There are a few instances for choosing a TFSA, Sellery concedes. One of them might be for saving for a down payment on a house; TFSAs are great for that, he says. Those who've maxed out their RRSPs can turn to TFSAs, too.

But Sellery believes that the majority of Canadians really need to focus on saving for the day when they stop working and their income stops.

And yet, bemoans Sellery, many don't want to think about that day because, really, it's pretty boring. Sellery would agree: RRSPs are boring. Saving money is downright boring. But it's also essential.

"Almost everyone needs to save," he says.

You also need to be smart about that saving, and that means using the tax deduction from your RRSP contribution to top up your savings or pay down debt.

You can almost hear the sound of Sellery shaking his head through the telephone as he describes how many of the Canadians he talks to blow their tax refund come springtime.

"That tax refund is not a work bonus. It's money that the government took from you and is now giving back to you! So do not spend it on Cuba. Put it in your RRSP immediately. Immediately!" he exhorts.

If you have trouble reining in your spending, Sellery's book advises asking yourself what you want with your life and what you need to be saving for. For some, having a great house is the main goal. Others might dream of a retirement in the tropics.

"I know that as a parent, one of the reasons I contribute to my RRSP is I don't want the burden of my care when I'm older to fall on my daughter," Sellery says.

If you're clear about what you're saving for, you'll stay motivated, he believes. Still, there will always be those who know on the one hand that they should be spending less and saving more, but won't be willing to make the commitment.

"A lot of people are looking for an out," Sellery says. "They are. They'll read this article looking for an excuse, for an out, for a reason not to (save).

"People choose to be oblivious to the consequences of doing nothing for their future."