At the 2024 Defined Contribution Plan Summit, which was hosted in Vancouver on Feb. 27-29, attendees learned about the various challenges and solutions for DC plan sponsors across the accumulation and decumulation phases, including how to cater to different generations’ needs and innovative investment and drawdown options, through expert thought leadership and employer case studies […]
Technology plays an increasingly important role as defined contribution pension plan sponsors seek to deploy decumulation support and retirement advice at scale, said Jean-Michel Lavoie, vice-president of strategy and market development for group retirement services at Sun Life Financial Inc. (pictured right), during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2024 DC Plan Summit in February. The […]
Changes to tax rules can improve Canadians’ retirement security and make the retirement system more equitable, according to a new report by the C.D. Howe Institute. The report argued in favour of key changes to the accumulation phase, such as more equitable tax-deferred registered wealth accumulation limits, changes to the tax recognition of administrative expenses […]
If I’ve learned one thing about the Canadian pension industry over the past six years, it’s that change comes at a snail’s pace. When I joined Benefits Canada in 2015, my Canadian pension knowledge was a blank slate, so I spent several weeks speaking to pension experts. The key message that came across was this: […]
For the second year in a row, Canada ranked No. 8 among developed nations for retiree well-being, according to Natixis Investment Managers’ annual global retirement index. The index, which provides an overview of the relative well-being and financial security of retirees in 44 countries, examined 18 factors across four categories: finances in retirement, material well-being, […]
While the Canadian retirement industry has spent a lot of time focusing on the accumulation stage, the decumulation conversation is much further behind. For defined contribution pension plans, almost all jurisdictions across the country have now passed variable benefits legislation, including Ontario, which began allowing the option on Jan. 1, 2020. However, despite receiving legal […]
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 […]