The holiday season is a time to reflect on the events of 2019 and how they may affect trends in the year to come. I predict a couple of trends on the pension landscape in 2020: much needed progress on the expansion of decumulation options and the outsourcing of the chief investment officer function. Expansion of […]
This month’s Head to head considers the merits of both defined benefit and defined contribution plans as the country’s pension landscape becomes an increasingly diverse patchwork. Jerry Dias, president of Unifor National: Let’s cut to the chase. Absent a voice for workers through a union and collective bargaining, there really wouldn’t be much debate around defined […]
Pension plan stakeholders will see a continued evolution of both short- and long-term reform, with some significant developments expected in 2020. “Hopefully, Ontario will finalize the rules for its target benefit regime — perhaps we’ll see the introduction of single employer target-benefit rules — and there should be some action on variable benefits because the […]
As employer-sponsored pension plans and personal retirement savings continue to shrink, the third pillar of Canada’s retirement income troika, the publicly funded Canada Pension Plan, is seeing improvements. Some of the enhancements, which are being gradually phased in from Jan. 1, 2019, borrow from what Australia already has in place for its superannuation system. In […]
While debt loads and plans for leaving an inheritance affect how quickly people spend their retirement savings, personality could also play a significant role, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association. The study, conducted by Sarah Asebedo and Christopher Browning at Texas Tech University, looked at the personality and psychological data […]
Many Canadians are interested in learning more about how to manage their money as they make the transition to retirement, according to a new survey by Mackenzie Investments. About half (47 per cent) of baby boomers said they want to know more about how to make the transition to retirement. This age group is slightly more […]
Defined contribution plan sponsors have a tough job. “Every day that goes by, DC is getting harder and harder to solve for,” said Lorie Latham, senior defined contribution strategist at T. Rowe Price during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2019 Defined Contribution Investment Forum in Toronto on Sept. 27. Looking to lessons learned in the […]
A professor of finance at York University has developed a new tool to help people who are saving for retirement through multiple vehicles ensure that when looking at their portfolios in total these are well-diversified. The tool, Wealthscope, was developed by Pauline Shum Nolan, who is also a member of the university pension fund’s investment […]
While defined contribution pension plans evolve and defined benefit plans decline, the McGill University pension plan is a true blend of both types — at least for some employees. When Sebastien Betermier, an associate professor of finance at the university’s Desautels Faculty of Management, joined the plan after 2009, a DC arrangement was available for […]
As a solution to employee inertia, many plan sponsors with defined contribution arrangements are looking at setting automatic features as their plan’s default option. When the Royal Bank of Canada redesigned its DC plan in 2012, it introduced auto-enrolment for all new plan members following a six-month waiting period. Before the change, employees had a […]