3M will freeze its U.S. defined benefit pension plans for non-union U.S. employees, effective Dec. 31, 2028, and move plan members to a 401(k) plan structure. Eligible employees will continue to accrue benefits under the pension plans until the freeze date, according to a press release, which noted this decision applies to both 3M and 3M Health Care. Former […]
With more than 40,000 employees across the country, Amazon Canada is a microcosm of the wider national workforce. Comprising five generations, the online retailer’s workers represent a wide spectrum of savings goals and related challenges. And to support these goals, it has developed a diverse array of options to meet staff at every stage of […]
Interest rate levels are critically important to the financial health of defined benefit pension plans. Many DB plans are in their best financial positions in decades, largely due to the dramatic rise in interest rates over the past few years, but decreases in interest rates could pose a major risk for many plans. Changes in […]
The Association of Canadian Pension Management is urging the federal government to reverse its position on the cessation of real return bonds and open a stakeholder consultation on the matter. In an open letter, the ACPM said the real return bonds are an important tool in building a balanced portfolio that manages inflation risk. In […]
The estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process increased from 101.1 per cent of a plan’s accounting liabilities in September to 101.9 per cent of those liabilities in October, according to Milliman Inc.’s latest pension buyout index. The index uses the FTSE above median AA curve and annuity […]
While the term decumulation may sound very technical and often leads to confusion among pension plan members, it’s actually quite simple — effectively, it’s the opposite of accumulation. These two terms make up the typical retirement savings journey — the accumulation phase is the working years when capital accumulation plan members put away their nest […]
Canada’s life and health insurers paid out a record $114 billion in health and retirement benefits last year, up $11 billion since before the coronavirus pandemic and up 60 per cent from a decade ago, according to the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association’s annual fact book. “During a year when many households faced higher […]
Working in the pension industry has always been aligned with Shannan Corey’s personal interests and values. Her father was an actuary so she was exposed to the pension industry from a very young age. After earning her mathematics degree at the University of Saskatchewan, she became an associate actuary, spending a few years in consulting […]
Ontario-based defined benefit pension plans returned, on average, 0.7 per cent on their investments in the second quarter of 2023, according to a new report by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario. It found the positive return contributed to a small increase in the median projected solvency ratio, which increased to 116 per cent. […]
More than half of U.K. defined benefit pension plan sponsors say they’d consider ways of securing benefits for their members beyond insurance-based solutions, according to a new survey by Aon. The survey, conducted during a recent webinar among 330 pension plan sponsors and trustees, asked which long-term strategy options they’d consider for their DB plan. Nearly two-thirds […]