While workplace savings programs have traditionally focused on retirement, there has been a shift in recent years to facilitate employees’ changing financial priorities and savings journeys. Benefits Canada’s 2025 Employee Savings Survey (formerly known as the CAP Member Survey) found three-quarters (73 per cent) of Canadian employees ranked paying for day-to-day expenses among their top […]
The Association of Canadian Pension Management is calling on the Alberta government to modernize its provincial pension legislation and align its laws with other Canadian jurisdictions in terms of funding rules, innovation, administration and reducing red tape. In an open letter to Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner, the ACPM outlined several proposed legislative changes, based […]
While there’s more work to be done, election campaign promises made by Canada’s major federal political parties that address retirement challenges are a step in the right direction, says John McLaren, a group benefits and retirement consultant with Jones DesLauriers. Earlier this month, Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Pollievre pledged to allow working seniors […]
The use of automatic features in U.S. defined contribution pension plans is supporting employee financial well-being and retirement readiness, according to a new report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. It found when a typical DC plan sponsor adopted auto-enrolment with a six per cent default contribution, the retirement savings shortfall among plan members decreased […]
With no federal requirement for U.S. employers to offer retirement savings options, individual states are stepping up and delivering meaningful programs. Speaking at Benefits Canada’s 2025 Defined Contribution Plan Summit, Michael Frerichs, state treasurer at the Illinois Treasurer’s Office, said the U.S. is facing a retirement crisis and he hopes these government tools can be […]
Since 2008, when the U.S. enacted legislation allowing target-date funds as the default, total assets in these funds have grown from around US$150 billion to $3 trillion, according to Glenn Dial, vice-president of retirement thought leadership and research at American Century Investments, during a session sponsored by CIBC Asset Management Inc. at Benefits Canada’s 2025 […]
A recent development in the U.K. pension market to give British workers a ‘pot for life’ could reduce the quality of retirement plans that are already in place and create administrative challenges, says Adam Bexson, senior corporate pension consultant at Verlingue Ltd. Currently, plan members are automatically enrolled into a retirement plan chosen by their employer, […]
The majority (95 per cent) of U.S. 401(k) plan sponsors say they intend to change their plan design by the end of the year, according to a new survey by Fidelity Institutional. The survey, which polled more than 1,300 employers, found a quarter said they plan to increase their matching contribution (26 per cent) and […]
With Canadians’ financial priorities shifting alongside a turbulent economic climate, including inflation levels not seen in decades and a never-ending rise in the cost of living, it isn’t surprising capital accumulation plan members’ commitment to retirement savings is taking a hit. Benefits Canada’s 2023 CAP Member Survey found just 41 per cent of respondents rated […]
Two-fifths (41 per cent) of U.S. employees are cashing out their 401(k) plan savings when they leave a job, with 85 per cent draining their entire accounts, according to a new report by the University of British Columbia, Texas State University and the University of Colorado Boulder. The report, which analyzed data from more than […]