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2023 DC Plan Summit: DC industry’s objectives shifting from retirement to financial wellness

The traditional aim for the defined contribution pension industry has been helping plan members save for retirement, but as the nature of employment, plan design, investment choice and member engagement evolves, that objective is changing to financial wellness. “The world has changed significantly since the defined contribution business emerged,” said Marc-Antoine Morin, assistant vice-president of […]

  • May 12, 2023 May 8, 2023
  • 08:50

2023 DC Plan Summit: How Australia, the U.S. are tackling decumulation challenges

While a third of Canadians are very or extremely confident they’ll be able to retire at the age they want to, around 40 per cent are somewhat confident and a fifth say they don’t think they’ll be able to retire at all, according to MFS Investment Management’s 2022 global retirement survey. “Those stats for the […]

  • May 12, 2023 May 12, 2023
  • 08:50

2023 DC Plan Summit: Tips for getting more retirement income with less risk

Even though it sounds obvious, maximizing retirement income and making it last for life isn’t what drives most retirees when it comes to making decisions — which is contributing to the challenges around decumulation, said Fred Vettese, an author and pension expert, during Benefits Canada‘s 2023 Defined Contribution Plan Summit. “The hurdles we have to […]

  • May 12, 2023 May 8, 2023
  • 08:44

2023 DC Plan Summit: Keep it simple, thoughtful and measurable to engage millennials in retirement savings

With multiple generations in Canada’s diverse labour force, each generation has distinct needs and expectations, with millennials, in particular, creating increasing challenges for plan sponsors. The age group is comfortable talking about finances, but they aren’t saving for retirement, said Maria-José Perea, vice-president of product innovation in group retirement savings at Desjardins Insurance, during Benefits […]

  • May 12, 2023 May 8, 2023
  • 08:41

2023 DC Plan Summit: Amazon fostering holistic financial literacy, wellness among employees

Any new benefit introduced at Amazon has to align to its 16 leadership principles, which the organization lives and breathes every day. These include: learn and be curious, think big, inventing and simplifying, customer obsession and bias for action. “When we roll out a benefit, it has to fit into our leadership principles,” said Adam […]

  • May 12, 2023 May 8, 2023
  • 08:40

TMX Group among employers signing more inclusive, equitable parental leave pledge

TMX Group Ltd. is among 23 Canadian employers that have signed on to a new parental leave pledge created by Women in Capital Markets. The pledge provides a roadmap for organizations to follow to ensure their parental leave policies and practices are inclusive and equitable to all those who use them, including non-birth parents and […]

  • April 24, 2023 April 24, 2023
  • 09:00

Canadian employee ownership trust model missing incentives for companies: expert

As the Canadian government develops its legislation to permit employee ownership trusts, the fact that the proposed model doesn’t include incentives is a big blow to companies considering the option, according to one expert. “I would have had a different answer for you prior to the [2023] budget,” says Jon Shell, managing partner at Toronto-based Social […]

  • April 21, 2023 April 19, 2023
  • 09:00

Editorial: Can the industry move beyond the complexity of pensions?

What’s in a name? A pension by any other name would smell as sweet — or would it? I started writing this month’s Pension Feature as an exercise to sift through some of the terms used by the pension industry to describe the different types of plans, but also to answer the question: Does the […]

  • April 14, 2023 April 12, 2023
  • 09:00

Does the pension industry have a language problem?

Defined benefit. Defined contribution. Target benefit. Shared risk. Collective. Multi-employer. Pooled. Canada’s pension and retirement landscape is littered with lingo that can often be confusing for the people who participate in these plans and count on them for their retirement income. As pension plans evolve and the terms describing them expand, does the industry have […]

  • April 14, 2023 April 20, 2023
  • 08:55

Editorial: How long will the echo pandemic last?

Three years ago this month, the world was grappling with the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Even then, with very little information available, people were beginning to turn their attention to the anticipated long-term ramifications of the public health crisis. With everyone experiencing this once-in-a-century moment simultaneously, no one had a response for how […]

  • March 17, 2023 March 17, 2023
  • 09:00