Which factors do you consider when educating your members on their DC plans? Take our poll! A DC pension plan is a wonderful thing: with money from the company, steady investment performance over time and a sprinkling of pixie dust—voilà!—employees can make regular contributions from their own salary and grow a nice lump sum to […]
First published on Advisor.ca. This is Part 2 in a series on pension investing using ETFs. Read Part 1 if you missed it. Target date funds (TDFs) or lifecycle funds simplify investing by automatically reducing equity exposure as a target retirement date or a student’s anticipated university enrolment approaches. TDFs are the hottest segment of […]
The Social Investment Organization (SIO) has named Jane Ambachtsheer, partner and global head of Mercer’s responsible investment business as the honourary recipient of the 2011 Canadian SRI Lifetime Achievement Award. The Canadian SRI Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes those committed to the promotion of environmental, social, governance (ESG) in the Canadian investment space. The SIO recognizes […]
The fact that little has changed in the world of benefits over the last 20 or 30 years is both good and bad news. Since most plans remain generous in their coverage and funding, cost control is still a big concern, although such talk often stops well short of action. (For objective proof of this, […]
After three consecutive quarters of gains, Mercer’s pension index shows that many Canadian plans suffered moderate losses in the second quarter of 2011 as a result of negative Canadian equity returns and a decline in federal bond yields. The index stood at 71% as of June 30, down 4% over the quarter. “Long-term federal bond […]
The Benefits Canada 2011 ranking of the Top 100 Pension Funds paints an encouraging picture. With 97 of the listed funds posting increases in pension assets for the year, many plans are recovering nicely from the economic turmoil they faced just three years ago. Still, the funded status of the average Canadian pension plan was […]
After the economic turmoil that defined 2008 and decimated assets in many pension plans, few expected the turnaround in markets that occurred in 2009. In last year’s Top 100 Pension Funds Report, 66 of the funds on the list posted double-digit increases in assets for 2009. Only eight ended the year with decreases. While many […]
The last decade has been unpleasant for DB pension plans, even before the 2008 market crash. The Great Recession further exacerbated these challenges as global equity markets tumbled and central banks around the world lowered interest rates to stimulate the global economy. This caused their liabilities to increase while their investments declined. To make matters […]
Institutions and climate change.
It’s not just Air Canada and Canada Post workers who are unhappy with their employers, a new survey has found. Findings from Mercer’s What’s Working survey, released today, indicated that 36% of Canadian workers are seriously considering leaving their organization, up sharply from 26% in 2006. In addition, another 22% are indifferent about leaving but […]