The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that a recent survey of 1,502 adults, more than half could not say what RSPs, ETFs and GICs were. The Globe's Rob Carrick writes that one outlier was TFSAs: Three-quarters of participants knew this is the acronym for tax-free savings accounts. The survey, by Scotiabank's on-line unit Tangerine, documents how jargon gets in the way of helping people manage their money. It also shows that TFSAs have overcome this problem. In Canadian personal finance, TFSAs are the No. 1 brand. A big surprise in the survey is that only 39 per cent of participants could identify RSP, which is a shortened version of the more familiar registered retirement savings plan, or RRSP. Just 34 per cent knew that GIC means guaranteed investment certificate, but that is no biggie because GICs are a niche product for conservative investors. A mere 17 per cent knew that ETF stands for exchange-traded fund. ETFs have become popular in recent years, but it is obvious that there is much work left to do in teaching mainstream investors about them. An acronym with just a 10-per-cent recognition rate was ESG, a socially responsible investing term that stands for environmental, social and governance.