Barry Gros – A Scorecard Grading Ontario’s Proposed Framework for Target Benefits
To: Ontario’s Pension Policy Branch From: Barry Gros Date: April 20, 2023 Re: A Scorecard Grading Ontario’s Proposed Framework for Target Benefits The Ontario Ministry of Finance released a Consultation Document on the regulation of target benefit pension plans last month, with a request for feedback by June 30. The C.D. Howe Institute has published […]Live Long and Prosper? Mandatory RRIF Drawdowns Raise the Risk of Outliving Tax-Deferred Saving
Tax rules requiring RRIF withdrawals need revamping. Longer lives and lower returns increase the likelihood that mandatory minimum withdrawals will leave seniors with negligible income from their tax-deferred saving in their later years. Government impatience for revenue should not force holders of RRIFs and similar tax-deferred vehicles to deplete their nest eggs prematurely. We need […] 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 […]