Nearly one-quarter of Americans said they never plan to retire, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that suggested a disconnect between individuals’ retirement plans and the realities of aging in the workforce. Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner […]
Hub International Ltd. is acquiring benefits and retirement consulting group BenefitLink Resource Group Edmonton Holdings Inc. The acquisition is part of Hub’s strategy to increase its offering of Canadian employee benefits and pensions services. The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. “Businesses today need to proactively manage and navigate the ever-changing benefits and retirement landscape, which […]
Employers that provide financial wellness programs alongside traditional health and wellness offerings are likely to reap the benefits of a healthier workforce, according to new research by Prudential Financial Inc. The research surveyed 2,000 American employees who work at organizations that offer wellness benefits, such as gym memberships, fitness and diet advice and smoking cessation […]
Looking back over years of momentous corporate bankruptcies and their impact on defined benefit pension plan members, the current fervor around Sears Canada Inc. hardly seems to mark a new trend. Before Sears, and even before Stelco Inc., there was Nortel Networks Corp. In 2009, when the multinational telecommunications company filed for bankruptcy protection in […]
Though Trish McAuliffe didn’t know much about pension benefits at the time, they were at the heart of one of her earliest working memories. In the 1980s, McAuliffe was a new employee at General Motors of Canada Co., putting together automobile interiors, when she dutifully joined the picket line during an eruption of labour strife […]
When it comes to investing member contributions, the Co-operators Group Ltd.’s defined contribution pension doesn’t look like many other Canadian plans. For one, it doesn’t use a platform approach to investing. Instead, much of its more than $1 billion in assets under management are part of a pre-constructed balanced fund with different target-risk levels with […]
The pension industry has mixed feelings about the language used around retirement and whether it still reflects the needs of today’s workforce. “It’s always been retirement and always will be what we call it,” says Lois Brzak, payroll supervisor for the Agriculture Financial Services Corp. But a conversation is beginning to permeate the industry, with […]
Whether operating in Canada or the United States, defined contribution plan sponsors are facing the same challenges around demographics, plan design and their employees’ retirement readiness. On the demographics front, more baby boomers are retiring and taking their pension balances with them. As DC plans lose members, plan sponsors may see a rise in costs […]
In May 2018, more than 76,500 Ontario public service employees received emails from their employer encouraging them to use the federal government’s retirement income calculator. The emails were the same, but the subject lines were different. Each one targeted a different way of thinking: emphasizing the simplicity of retirement planning, playing up its immediate benefits […]
While defined contribution plan members want to know they’ll have stable income through retirement with flexibility around accessing their funds, the Canadian market needs to evolve to include a broader range of retirement products to accommodate that. According to a Mercer survey of 1,000 Australians over the age of 55, DC plan members most want an […]