Members of the Prince Edward Island Legislature’s Public Accounts Committee were briefed yesterday on options for tackling the funding shortfall in the province’s public sector pension funds, which has hit $436 million.
With pension liabilities rising to record levels, many individuals are facing hard choices as a result. Should they delay retirement or lower their retirement standard of living? What about increasing investment risk? While an individual can make any one or combination of these choices to improve his or her situation, what about society? Can society improve its pension situation?
The pooled registered pension plan (PRPP)—proposed by the federal government in response to the lack of pension coverage across Canada—may also help to resolve employers’ concerns about the costs and administrative burden of offering retirement savings plans to employees.
Small business owners in Quebec may want to bookmark Great-West Life’s new web portal for voluntary retirement savings plans (VRSPs).
The Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) is calling on the provinces and territories to enact legislation that would provide access to pooled registered pension plans (PRPPs) for small businesses and the self-employed.
In the simplest of terms, they all use discretionary investment managers to make financial decisions on their behalf. No one from the CPP has ever called you to find out how you’d like your contributions invested. Likewise for any DB plan member. Those retirement plans rely on portfolio managers to do that.
New Brunswick could be paving the way for pension reform. The province’s new pension legislation, introduced in May of this year, became law earlier this week.
The core of any employee benefits plan is the pension. But with DB plans, rapid changes in longevity have pushed the majority of funds into an underfunded position, and employers are increasingly closing plans to new entrants in order to get the deficit under control and reduce the pressure on the corporate balance sheet.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) say one of the main reasons their members don’t offer a retirement savings vehicle is the cost burden.
Bill C-25, the Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act, received Royal Assent yesterday, moving the legislation another step closer to becoming law. Federal tax legislation still needs to be passed, and regulations will soon be published to address provisions of the Act.