Category Pensions
Ontario pension reform: What really needs to be done!
Ontario pension reform: What really needs to be done! Reform proposals? On August 24, 2010 Ontario Minister of Finance Duncan tabled proposed reforms. These ‘reforms’ can be best described as tinkering, rather than grabbing the bull by the horn in an effort to tackle the fundamental changes that Canadian pensions, now in systemic failure, really […]
Patrik Marier- IRPP Study: Improving Canada’s retirement saving- Lessons from abroad, Ideas from home
Patrik Marier- IRPP Study: Improving Canada’s retirement saving- Lessons from abroad, Ideas from home Summary Patrik Marier in the IRPP study “Improving Canada’s retirement saving- Lessons from abroad, Ideas from home”indicates that “Until now Canada’s retirement income system has done well in alleviating elders’ poverty and helping workers maintain their standard of living in retirement. […]
Feedback on “Securing Our Retirement Future: Consulting with Ontarians on Canada’s Retirement Income System”
Feedback on “Securing Our Retirement Future: Consulting with Ontarians on Canada’s Retirement Income System” Peter Benedek, CFA, RetirementAction.com Recommendations- Highlights Of Canada’s three-pillar retirement income system, only Pillar 1 (OAS/GIS) is doing its job of minimizing seniors’ poverty. Pillar 2 (CPP/QPP) is failing due to very low replacement targets and low earnings ceilings, thus dramatically […]
New Ontario pension windup flexibility is great but must include ‘self-administration’ option
New Ontario pension windup flexibility is great but must include ‘self-administration’ option It is wonderful to read that Ontario Finance Minister Duncan decided to broaden the available options upon pension wind-up, rather than forcing pensioners into an annuity. The Nortel pensioner group NRPC’s announcement in the context of the so called Financial Sponsorship Model-FSM (ominously) […]
PRPP: An agreement to kick the can down the road and deliver more fees to Canada’s financial industry
(Originally posted Dec 21, 2010; re-hosted in March 2012) In a nutshell Given the limited granularity available in the PRPP (Pooled Retirement Pension Plan) announcement, we must conclude that this is an agreement to do nothing, except perhaps a handout to the financial services industry at the expense of the average Canadian. By taking advantage of […]
Pension Reform: It’s not rocket science
Pension Reform: It’s not rocket science In a nutshell With the latest re-vectoring of the federal government’s ideas on pension reform (PRPP), we compare it to some of the more meritorious proposals tabled for pension reform (or already operational in the Saskatchewan SPP). PRPP comes up wanting in comparison to the others based on the […]
Is the CPP low cost? No it’s not, but its existence can enable ultra-low-cost expanded-CPP or PRPP
Is the CPP low cost? No it’s not, but its existence can enable ultra-low-cost expanded-CPP or PRPP In a nutshell Current CPP cost is not low at 1.32% of assets (2010 fixed administrative costs=0.61% and investment related costs=0.71%) on an absolute basis, however on a relative basis it is much lower than what typical retail […]
LIF- What is it and why important for Nortel pensioners
LIF- What is it and why important for Nortel pensioners In a nutshell Ontario government announced that as part of the Nortel pension plan windup procedures the pensioners in this case will not be compelled to convert the (reduced) commuted value of their pension to an annuity, but will also have an option to choose […]
Pension or lump sum
Pension or Lump Sum? Reading Theo Francis’ “Pension tension: figuring out when to lump it” in the WSJ, reminded me of the time when I had to make the decision, about five years ago. For what it’s worth, I’ll later give you some of my rationale for choosing to go with a pension, rather than […]
OAS vs. Pension Reform
OAS vs. Pension Reform Much ink has been spilled in the past couple of weeks on unspecified planned changes to the Canada’s Old Age Security system. Experts, fear mongers, protesters, advocates and politicians have come out arguing for changes ranging from ‘no change at all’ the way to ‘doing away with the OAS system completely’, […]
RetirementAction.com 