During an educational two days in Montreal, the 2020 DC Plan Summit, on Feb. 5-7, featured a range of sessions diving into today’s top issues for plan sponsors, including financial education and wellness, post-retirement solutions, sustainability, plan design and technology. Is your pension communication message getting through? A look at the different paths to ESG […]
At Benefits Canada‘s 2020 DC Plan Summit in Montreal in February, in a session highlighting innovations in target-date funds, Gary Chateram, former vice-president of institutional sales at Fidelity Investments, drew parallels to the progress in the automobile industry. When the original concept for target-date funds was filed in 1995, it wasn’t widely accepted, he said, noting […]
While the pension industry has historically thought about the sustainability of pension plans themselves, it’s now time to think about sustainability more broadly, said Kate Nazar, vice-president of strategy and market development for group retirement services at Sun Life Financial, during a panel at Benefits Canada‘s 2020 DC Plan Summit in Montreal in February. “We’re […]
As thoughts turn to decumulation, defined contribution plan sponsors have to look for different metrics to assess the variety of products on offer. During a session at Benefits Canada‘s 2020 DC Plan Summit in Montreal in February, Ed Studd, solutions manager of U.S. portfolio solutions at Schroders, called on plans to set a new consistent […]
When Gracie Inacay, former executive director and head of HR at Harris Associates, joined the firm, she took a good, long look at its defined contribution plan. In 1994, it had started as a profit-sharing plan. Once an employee had put in 1,000 hours and was employed at the end of the year, they received […]
People across Canada are stressed out about money. In fact, 41 per cent of Canadians say money is their No. 1 source of stress, according to Karrina Dusablon, vice-president of market development and strategic solutions at Canada Life, during a session at Benefits Canada‘s 2020 DC Plan Summit in Montreal in February. Overall well-being is […]
Wrapping up the 2020 DC Plan Summit with his customary flair, Zaheed Jiwani, principal and leader of the DC consulting group at Eckler Ltd., highlighted the pervasive themes through a selection of songs. With Joe Cocker’s “With a Little Help from My Friends,” he noted how the plan sponsor case studies shared real-life examples of […]
A new report by the C.D. Howe Institute is urging the federal government to suspend taxes on registered retirement savings plan withdrawals during the coronavirus pandemic. The report said the current financial assistance measures are an excellent start, but may still leave certain individuals and households with immediate cash-flow problems. Indeed, even for those to whom government assistance […]
While a flurry of capital accumulation plan member activity might indicate their anxiety amid an economic crisis, not many are choosing to make changes to their investments right now. In meeting with record keepers, Rosalind Gilbert, associate partner in the retirement and investment consulting group at Aon, says plan sponsors are more eager than usual for […]
An arbitrator has ruled in favour of the Winnipeg Police Association in its dispute with the City of Winnipeg over the police pension plan. The association filed the grievance in November 2019 after the City attempted to make alterations to the defined benefit pension plan. The changes included increasing employee contributions from eight per cent to 11.5 […]