With the arrival of the new year, there are three topics that will be important for pension plan sponsors, members and other industry stakeholders in 2024. The economy and financial markets At the end of 2023, the Canadian economy and the financial markets were still feeling the after-effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Read: Expert panel: […]
A story on how the federal government is considering ending Canada’s ’30 per cent rule’ was the most-read investment story on BenefitsCanada.com this year. Here are the 10 most popular investment news stories of 2023: 1. Feds consider end of ‘30% rule’ for pensions, propose EI adoption benefit: fall economic statement 2. Uptick in U.S. commercial office real estate […]
The progression of bonds and frontier markets over the long term will be top of mind for institutional investors in the coming year, according to Andrew Forsyth, senior vice-president of institutional investment services at Franklin Templeton. Fixed income may be in the good graces of institutional investors again as higher bond yields lead the way […]
Between 2000 and 2022, the average retirement age among Canadians climbed from 61.6 to 64.6, the highest it’s been since 1982, according to data from Statistics Canada. The agency’s June 2023 labour force survey found 22 per cent of Canadians aged 55 to 59 were either partially or completely retired. The same was true of […]
About half (51 per cent) of global institutional investors believe a recession is inevitable, a sentiment that runs strongest in the U.K. (67 per cent) and North America (62 per cent), according to Natixis Investment Managers’ 2024 outlook survey. The survey, which polled 500 institutional investors in 27 countries, also found among those expecting a […]
More than half (53 per cent) of the world’s largest pension funds say the prospect of a global recession is their No. 1 short-term concern and the same percentage expect a recession to take place in the next 12 months, according to a new survey by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum. The survey, which […]
The value of the total assets under management for the world’s 100 largest asset owners declined nine per cent to US$23.4 trillion as of Dec. 31, 2022, according to a new report by WTW’s Thinking Ahead Institute. Among these asset owners, pension funds retained 53 per cent of AUM, down from 60 per cent five […]
Desjardins Insurance is marking Financial Literacy Month with a series of budgeting workshops for employees and an interactive game to help improve financial literacy. The workshops cover topics such as using a budget to manage cash flow, how to plan for future goals and how to save on grocery bills amid rising inflation and food prices. […]
When Desjardins Insurance launched a study to redefine employee health and well-being, an unexpected finding came through loud and clear: Canadian employers and insurers should be paying much closer attention to millennial plan members. Millennials are a cohort of people born between 1980 and 1996. Since 2016, the generation has comprised the largest segment of […]
The estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process increased from 101.1 per cent of a plan’s accounting liabilities in September to 101.9 per cent of those liabilities in October, according to Milliman Inc.’s latest pension buyout index. The index uses the FTSE above median AA curve and annuity […]