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Defined benefits ‘can still work’ [pensions]
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
Dec. 15, 2011
In Australia, a nationwide switch away from defined benefit plans has led to widespread senior poverty. Half of Australian seniors live below the poverty line, and two thirds run out of pension income by age 75. Is that what we want here?” The beauty of DB plans is you know in advance what you’ll get out of them… you need to save $500,000 to provide yourself with an annual pension of $25,000, but that’s the reality. We owe it to people to help them get there – we need to make workplace pensions better, not worse.”
Tags: economy, ideology, pensions, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada urged to end ‘pension apartheid’
Friday, October 28th, 2011
Oct 28, 2011
… a new book published by Wiley Canada – Pension Ponzi… depicts a system of “pension apartheid” that favours 20% of workers with unionnegotiated public-sector DB plans at the expense of the rest who guarantee those pensions through their future taxes. Most penalized are new Canadians, the self-employed, the chronically unemployed and those who have suffered market losses in RRSPs or prematurely withdrawn funds from them.
Tags: ideology, pensions, rights, standard of living, tax
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CPP benefits should be doubled: Study
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
Jul. 6, 2011
If a new and mandatory national defined benefit [DB] pension plan proposed by retired Finance Department mandarin Keith Horner gets traction, CPP and QPP benefits would jump from 25% to 40% of earnings up to $48,300 and from zero to 25% on a bigger salary base of $96,600… The need is certainly there: Canadians haven’t saved enough to make up the difference… Unlike the current CPP, Mr. Horner’s plan would be fully funded, have tax-deductible contributions and reduce RRSP room for participants, as do registered pension plans…
Tags: pensions, poverty, standard of living
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Pension envy all the rage
Saturday, November 20th, 2010
Nov. 18, 2010
… if Ottawa implements recommendations from a University of Toronto think-tank, the normal retirement age for… receiving Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits would be pushed back two years from the current 65 to 67. Worse, early reduced CPP benefits could no longer commence as early as 60 but be deferred to 62. This would happen gradually, over 10 or 15 years… It should be up to individuals to decide to work until 67, not up to government. And those running that government shouldn’t be treated more generously than the working Joes who make their early retirements possible.
Tags: pensions, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
CPP is in need of a boost
Sunday, November 7th, 2010
Nov. 6, 2010
… consultant Greg Hurst… identifies six “myths” propagated by Big CPP proponents. One is that CPP operates as a standalone program. Many employer pensions are integrated with CPP so any expansion of contributions and benefits will impact the rest of the system. Another myth is that CPP is inexpensive to administer. Perhaps most serious is the notion that CPP is self-funded and imposes no tax burden. Public-sector employers pushing for a big CPP are funded by taxpayers… as are CPP contributions made by those employers.
Tags: pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Fighting the new ‘normal’ [retirement benefits]
Saturday, October 30th, 2010
Oct. 30, 2010
BMO has released a report — When to Retire, Age Matters — that may cause Canadians to emulate Germany and keep working as long as possible. This is counter to a brief vogue when Canadians sought earlier retirement. In the 1970s, the median retirement age was 65, which fell to 60.6 by 1997. But it edged up to 61 in 2005… the simplest fix would be to raise — perhaps double — the base annual earnings on which CPP is calculated. Currently, it’s around $47,000. Doubling it to $94,000 would almost double benefits but not the required contributions from employees and employers.
Tags: pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Support for seniors
Sunday, August 1st, 2010
Jul. 31, 2010
While the lion’s share of support for low-income seniors comes from federal programs, most provinces have top-up programs to provide extra support to those receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). The provincial benefits kick in automatically through the tax system, except in Alberta and New Brunswick, where you must apply. Manitoba is unique in offering supplements to those as young as 55. The benefits are usually automatic to those receiving the Old Age Security (OAS)… No central source pulls this information together, so finding the various provincial programs was a bit of a hunt.
Tags: pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
High noon for pension reform
Sunday, April 18th, 2010
April 15, 2010
The president of KPA Advisory Services Ltd. is pushing for a supplement to the Canada Pension Plan that would benefit the 75% of Canadians who don’t have employer pensions. His focus on improving prospects for middle-income Canadians earning $30,000 to $100,000 makes it one of the leading contenders for reform.
Tags: pensions, standard of living
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