I’ll be retiring at the end of September, so this will probably be my last article for Benefits Canada, and certainly my last as an employee of Morneau Shepell Ltd. While the natural final topic would have been a look back at the high points in the pension industry since the mid-1970s, it may be […]
The first phase in implementing the Canada Pension Plan enhancement is looming large. Employee and employer contribution rates will start to increase in 2019 and keep on rising until 2025. While it will take a very long time to phase in, the benefit level under the enhanced CPP will be up to 50 per cent bigger […]
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 […]
Consultant says fix Canada’s pension system by harmonizing retirement ages.
I’ve often said that Canada’s three-pillar retirement income system serves today’s seniors rather well, especially those who used to have lower working income. The system is far from perfect, however, and one of its more glaring flaws involves the ages at which people can retire. I have yet to hear a cogent justification for why […]
It’s a little shocking to realize that 1,100 Canadians are turning 65 every day. Of that number, about 500 will be relying on their own savings for much of their retirement income security (the rest are defined benefit participants or low-income workers). Unfortunately, very few of them are qualified to implement an efficient decumulation strategy […]
Whenever the Canada Pension Plan is amended, the chief actuary must prepare a supplementary actuarial report has to be prepared on it. That report, released late last month, contains several items of interest to most plan sponsors and participants. Unless you read the legislation itself, this report may be the first time we see the […]
For all it’s worth, I have already given the recent Canada Pension Plan enhancement a passing grade. As I noted in our firm’s July report on the CPP, “a larger enhancement would have been strongly opposed by businesses while a smaller enhancement might have led to the balkanization of Canada’s retirement income system.” It might, […]
Now that the finance ministers have reached an agreement on Canada Pension Plan expansion, you’d think we could all breathe a sigh of relief and go back to our normal lives. Whether or not you like the compromise reached yesterday in Vancouver, the 10-year national debate on pension reform has finally reached a closure of […]
I have mixed feelings about the government’s recent announcement of its intent to preserve eligibility for old-age security at age 65. That’s because I no longer know what purpose OAS is supposed to serve. It wasn’t always like this. Back in 1966, when the government lowered the starting age for OAS to age 65 from 70 , […]