In this time of pandemic, a lot has been shared about the woes of defined benefit pension plans, but members of capital accumulation plans are also feeling the impact, even though few have even noticed. Fortunately, target-date funds and lifecycle portfolios have really helped. But the government and provincial regulators need to help as well. Once […]
In 2018, a 69-year-old man named Emile Ratelband in the Netherlands lost a legal fight to change his birth date to 20 years earlier, arguing that he didn’t feel as old as he was. The court case inspired a paper looking into the idea of subjective age versus biological age and how it impacts economic […]
Provincial and federal regulators are beginning to roll out relief measures for defined benefit pension plan sponsors, ranging from administrative filing extensions to freezes on commuted-value transfers. At the federal level, the government announced Thursday it will be halting solvency special payments for federally regulated DB plans until the end of 2020 to ensure plan […]
The federal government is halting solvency special payments for federally regulated defined benefit pension plans until the end of 2020. The moratorium on payments under the Pension Benefits Standards Act is aimed at ensuring that employers have financial resources to continue their operations and pension plans, as well as to protect plan members, said the […]
Women are in a worse position than men when it comes to pension savings, thanks to several systemic factors. So how can plan sponsors bridge the gender pension gap and help women prepare for retirement? The gender pension gap continues to be a real and pressing issue. Globally, the World Economic Forum estimates that women’s […]
During an educational two days in Montreal, the 2020 DC Plan Summit, on Feb. 5-7, featured a range of sessions diving into today’s top issues for plan sponsors, including financial education and wellness, post-retirement solutions, sustainability, plan design and technology. Is your pension communication message getting through? A look at the different paths to ESG […]
At Benefits Canada‘s 2020 DC Plan Summit in Montreal in February, in a session highlighting innovations in target-date funds, Gary Chateram, former vice-president of institutional sales at Fidelity Investments, drew parallels to the progress in the automobile industry. When the original concept for target-date funds was filed in 1995, it wasn’t widely accepted, he said, noting […]
While the pension industry has historically thought about the sustainability of pension plans themselves, it’s now time to think about sustainability more broadly, said Kate Nazar, vice-president of strategy and market development for group retirement services at Sun Life Financial, during a panel at Benefits Canada‘s 2020 DC Plan Summit in Montreal in February. “We’re […]
As thoughts turn to decumulation, defined contribution plan sponsors have to look for different metrics to assess the variety of products on offer. During a session at Benefits Canada‘s 2020 DC Plan Summit in Montreal in February, Ed Studd, solutions manager of U.S. portfolio solutions at Schroders, called on plans to set a new consistent […]
When Gracie Inacay, former executive director and head of HR at Harris Associates, joined the firm, she took a good, long look at its defined contribution plan. In 1994, it had started as a profit-sharing plan. Once an employee had put in 1,000 hours and was employed at the end of the year, they received […]