The budget should modernize Canada’s retirement-saving rules – Financial Post Op-Ed
With the worst of COVID-19 behind us, the federal government needs to re-focus on long-standing stresses, including tax rules that limit many Canadians from saving as much for retirement as they would like and may need, and that force them to draw their retirement saving down faster than is prudent.
MPs and federal public servants have tax-backed plans that guarantee them indexed payments for life. Most Canadians cannot look forward to retirement incomes that are anything like as generous or secure. The C.D. Howe Institute’s 2023 Shadow Budget contains measures to reduce this unfair gap — measures Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland could bring out of the shadows next week!
1. Let Canadians…
Eloise Duncan – Financial Resilience Index Highlights Provincial Differences: Quebec a Leader
From: Eloise Duncan To: Provincial Policymakers Date: March 21, 2023 Re: Financial Resilience Index Highlights Provincial Differences: Quebec a Leader A little over a year ago, I highlighted the importance of understanding household financial resilience at a granular level in order to support a sharpened policy aim. This continues to be true as the Financial […] Faut-il confier son REER à la Caisse ? – La Presse Op-Ed
J’ai beaucoup d’admiration pour la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), où je suis passé, comme beaucoup. Pourtant, même si elle est le gestionnaire idéal de notre rente, ce serait une fausse bonne idée de lui confier nos régimes enregistrés d’épargne-retraite (REER).
Michel Girard, chroniqueur au Journal de Montréal, propose de permettre aux Québécois « d’investir directement une portion de leurs épargnes dans un fonds commun de placement basé sur le gigantesque portefeuille diversifié de la Caisse. »1 La distribution serait confiée à Épargne Placements Québec.
Malheureusement, il serait difficile de « cloner » le rendement de la CDPQ, car plus du tiers de ses actifs est…
Randy Bauslaugh – Let’s Fix Bill C-228 Before It’s Too Late
From: Randy Bauslaugh To: Members of the Senate Date: December 7, 2022 Re: Let’s Fix Bill C-228 Before It’s Too Late Each year or so for more than a decade, a private member’s bill comes forward purporting to rescue pension plan members’ benefits when businesses fail. This year’s version, Bill C-228, is still a knee-jerk reaction that only sounds […]ESG and Climate Change: Pension Fund Dos and Don’ts*
Pension fund administrators have a fiduciary duty to prudently manage financial risks and opportunities when investing plan assets and when managing plan operations that are paid from the pension fund. This includes the financial risks and opportunities associated with climate change and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. But what are the legal dos […] Shlesinger, Loder, Benjamin – Shift in Focus to Improve Retirement for Canadians
To: Canadian Pension Plan Sponsors, Policymakers and Other Stakeholders From: Idan Shlesinger, Michelle Loder, and Gavin Benjamin Date: November 2, 2022 Re: Shift in Focus to Improve Retirement for Canadians With innovations emerging to address the shortcomings of defined-contribution (DC) pension plans and Group Registered Retirement Savings Plans, it is time for these capital accumulation plans to shift their […]Money for Life: Putting the “Pension” Back in Employee Pension Plans
New innovations are emerging to address the shortcomings of the “poor cousins” among employer-sponsored pension plans – defined-contribution (DC) plans and Group RRSPs. Unlike defined-benefit (DB) plans, they do not provide retirement income for life but instead focus on the accumulation phase. It’s time to put the “pension” back in these plans, which are known […] Barry Gros – Standards Hinder the Proper Management of Target Benefit Pension Plans
From: Barry Gros To: Canada’s Pension Regulators Date: September 12, 2022 Re: Standards Hinder the Proper Management of Target Benefit Pension Plans The majority of single-employer defined-benefit (DB) pension plans in the private sector have been either closed to future accruals, completely converted to defined-contribution plans or wound up. Their influence lingers, however, in pension regulation. It took government […]Laurin, Robson – Seniors Double Whammy: A Sagging Market and Obsolete Pension Rules
From: Alexandre Laurin and William B.P. Robson To: The Department of Finance Canada Date: July 11, 2022 Re: Seniors Double Whammy: A Sagging Market and Obsolete Pension Rules Prices are rising and stock markets are falling – a toxic combination, especially for older Canadians who rely on savings in registered retirement saving plans (RRSPs) and defined-contribution pension plans, and […]Bob Baldwin – Retirement Looks Rosier, But Not for Everyone
From: Bob Baldwin To: Canadians Concerned About Retirement Date: June 14, 2022 Re: Retirement Looks Rosier, But Not for Everyone Canadians nearing retirement age have seen a doubling in the median value of both their assets and net worth over the period from 1999 to 2019. This is a doubling in value that is net of inflation – it […]The Evolving Wealth of Canadians: Who Is Better Fixed for Retirement? Who is Not?
Rising Wealth of Canadians Boosts Retirement – For Some Canadians nearing retirement age have seen a doubling in the median value of both their assets and net worth since 1999, and real median family incomes were up 1.2 times, making retirement prospects seem rosier – but not equally for all, according to a new C.D. […] Alexandre Laurin – Pension-Related Tax Rule Changes for Budget 2022
To: Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland From: Alexandre Laurin Date: April 5, 2022 Re: Pension-Related Tax Rule Changes for Budget 2022 Retirees and workers nearing retirement will be looking to tax-rule changes to improve retirement security in your budget on Thursday. Policy attention to the decumulation phase of retirement savings can improve Canadians’ retirement and tax laws and regulations are […]