Only 16% of Canadians feel they are better off financially than they were a year ago, but the majority of Canadians (52%) feel the economy is on the right track and will improve over the next five years, a new poll from Investors Group indicates.

The poll, conducted in November by Harris Decima, revealed a largely unchanged attitude toward personal finance and the economy. In August, 15% of Canadians felt they were better off financially a year ago and 24% said they were worse off, while the split this fall was 16% and 23%.

However, 27% said they believed their financial situation would improve a year from now, while only 12% said they believed things would be worse.

According to the poll’s findings, Canadians’ outlook on the economy in 2011 is mixed: 19% appear to believe the economy is on the right track while 14% see ‘bad times’ in 2011. That outlook gets considerably brighter, however, when extended over five years: 52% of Canadians think the economy will improve during that time.

‘Canadians appear to have acknowledged that the economic situation and their personal financial lives have become a little more stable,’ Jack Courtney, assistant VP of advanced financial planning, Investors Group, said in a release. ‘This is a positive indication that we can continue to plan and move forward with confidence.’