Jane pulls into work, just as she does every Monday morning. After parking her car in the underground lot, she heads to the front desk to drop off her grocery list and her clothes for dry-cleaning. She also hands the concierge the keys to her car and instructs him it’s time for her regular wash […]
BC: What has been the single most important trend, development or event in pension money management over the past 25 years? LB: People living longer and retiring earlier has more than doubled the cost of financing retirement. At the same time, poor equity market returns created a big gap between assets and liabilities when the […]
© Copyright 2006 Rogers Publishing Ltd. The following article first appeared in the September 2006 edition of BENEFITS CANADA magazine. Industry Q&A: Advocating for change The ACPM’s president, Scott Perkin, discusses the organization’s achievements since its creation 30 years ago and the challenges that lie ahead for the pension system. By Don Bisch BC: […]
The pension industry needs to think outside the box. It pains me to use such a hackneyed phrase(although probably not as much as it pains you to read it). So my apologies off the top. Believe me, I tried avoiding it. But I couldn’t think of an analogy that fit better or that wasn’t […]
When beleaguered I.T. giant Nortel announced in June that it was switching its remaining defined benefit(DB) pension plan members to a defined contribution(DC)plan as of January 2008, many plan sponsors across the country were likely contemplating the same move. As DB plans struggle with funding deficits, many plan sponsors are weighing—and acting on—their options. According […]
Aside from needing “somebody” and “not just anybody,” I’m not sure what type of assistance John Lennon and Paul McCartney had in mind with their number one hit single back in 1965. But in today’s world, the Beatles’ appeal for help could very well be coming from Canadian employers. It seems there just isn’t enough […]
It was a conversation with his daughter recently that got Jan Grude thinking about his industry’s recruiting prospects and how to attract a new generation of skilled employees. “[She] asked me a heart-sinking question. She said, ‘Who chooses to be a benefits consultant?’ And I was really hard pressed to identify who does and why,” […]
What does a generous benefits plan look like? Don’t ask Canadian Auto Workers national president, Buzz Hargrove. He says he doesn’t know any employers that offer one. Hargrove joked about the stinginess of pensions and benefits plans in Canada as he launched the Great Debate in Quebec City at the Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute’s […]
© Copyright 2006 Rogers Publishing Ltd. The following article first appeared in the July 2006 edition of BENEFITS CANADA magazine. The Last 25 Years: Out of the Box The way pension plans are managed has changed over the past 25 years. It seems a more quantitative approach is all the rage. By Don Bisch […]
© Copyright 2006 Rogers Publishing Ltd. The following article first appeared in the June 2006 edition of BENEFITS CANADA magazine. The Last 25 Years: A New Frontier Investment managers have changed the way they look at investment strategies and portfolios over the past 25 years. By Don Bisch Wendy Brodkin, Practice Leader, Investment Consulting, […]