The current environment is simply too difficult for Canadians to save adequately for retirement, given increased longevity and the low yields on appropriate investments, according to a new report by the C.D. Howe Institute that suggests raising contribution limits to retirements savings plans to 30 per cent per year. “People are living longer and — […]
Macroeconomic trends such as longer lives, a lack of access to pensions and retirement supports, a low-growth environment, and persistent lack of financial literacy and trust in financial markets are creating a significant retirement savings gap between what people require in retirement and what they’ve actually saved. This is a global issue. But in Canada alone, […]
The Canadian government will discontinue the Canada savings bond and Canada premium bonds program on Nov. 1, 2017. While existing bonds will continue as usual until they mature or the purchaser redeems them, the option of buying them through a payroll savings program will now be off the table. The program reached peak popularity in the 1980s, but […]
The idea of taxing employee discounts appears to be on hold for now, but the government may reintroduce it at a later date. If it does, the Canada Revenue Agency may want to consider the implications a little more carefully. Employee discounts are already taxable when they’re substantial in nature. If an automobile company employee gets […]
The total number of active members in registered pension plans rose steadily between 2005 and 2015, from 5.7 million to 6.3 million, an increase of 10 per cent, according to new data from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. However, the proportion of employees covered by a registered pension plan has declined very […]
Two-thirds of households are setting aside money for retirement, taking advantage of either a registered pension plan, a registered retirement savings plan or a tax-free savings account, Statistics Canada said Wednesday as it released the latest batch of numbers from the 2016 census. Of 14 million households, 65.2 per cent made a contribution in 2015 […]
Mercer is introducing outsourced governance for employers with defined contribution pension plans. The offering, Mercer Future Wise, will delegate employers’ plan governance to a team at Mercer, providing access to investment managers, competitive fees and governance and oversight, according to a press release. It will also provide employers with insight into their plan members’ engagement […]
While defined contribution plans were a small piece of the pension market when Benefits Canada first rolled off the presses in 1977, the Co-operative Superannuation Society had already been operating for almost 40 years by that point. Founded in 1939 in Saskatoon, the society’s pension plan is one of the country’s oldest and largest defined […]
Back in the 1990s, senior management at the Co-operators Group Ltd. decided to be more generous with its defined contribution pension plan. While most Canadian companies with defined contribution offerings match employee contributions — often up to five per cent of salary — the Co-operators upped its plan on both sides of the equation by […]
Despite British Columbia’s introduction of provisions for target-benefit pension plans in 2015, a report from the province’s regulator suggests the option has seen a slow uptake. Only 30 pension plans with target-benefit components were registered as of Dec. 31, 2016, according to a report released by the Financial Institutions Commission of British Columbia on Wednesday. Many of […]