Chas:

So there we have it; as well as the 54% gap between expectations and current plan status. It brings home the retirement options review meeting one of my pension consultants had with a soon-to-retire member of one of our corp. client DC plans. “Mr. Jones, in answer to your question, your annuity will pay you 20% of your current annual income.” In a state of shock, Jones asks “What can I do about it?”

The CEO of the Canadian branch of a well-know multinational called me personally, as head of our pension consulting office, about their pension plan. “I just got out of a retirement party for one of our long-term staff members, and do you know what he said during his speech? He said that if he had known how ‘cheap’ we were on pensions, he would never have joined us.”

The CEO, a biz school fellow alumnus, then exclaims “What the heck was that all about? I sure didn’t see that coming.”

Either did the employee.

Wednesday, May 17 at 12:17 pm | Reply

Mary Anne:

Interesting, but personally I don’t put too much stock in survey results. The one thing I have found over my decades of benefits and pension administration is that there is usually a world of difference between what people say they want and their actual behaviour.

Wednesday, May 17 at 2:31 pm | Reply