An Ontario man is suing General Motors of Canada on behalf of himself and other retired white-collar employees of the automaker. The suit claims GM Canada violated its contractual obligations by rolling back post-retirement benefits in recent years. The lead plaintiff, Joseph O’Neill, belongs to a group representing more than 3,500 retired employees of the [...]
Standard Life Financial says premiums and deposits in Canada grew 15 per cent to $1.3 billion in the first quarter, as investors regained some confidence in their savings. The company, which is Standard Life PLC’s largest operation outside of the United Kingdom, said the increase for the three months ended March 31 compares to $1.1 [...]
Four-in-ten Canadians (39 per cent) over the age of 50, who have assets of at least $100,000, retired with some form of debt and one-quarter (22 per cent) entered retirement with a mortgage on their primary residence, according to the first annual RBC Retirement Myths and Realities poll, which examines Canadians’ expectations and experiences in [...]
The Conference Board says Canada has about four years to prepare for the economic shock of the retiring baby boom generation. In a long-term outlook released on April 28, the Ottawa-based think tank says Canada’s economy will grow rather robustly between now and 2015, more so than the Bank of Canada estimates. But that is [...]
With mortgage rates already on the rise and the prospect of higher rates coming, new research from Investors Group reveals that Canadian mortgage holders may be overly confident that they can take higher borrowing costs in stride, and that mortgage payments won’t be an obstacle to retirement. According to Statistics Canada, more than 4.8 million [...]
One of Canada’s big banking groups says rules for federal retirement savings plans should be changed to give people more control over their pensions. BMO Financial Group recommends the removal of age restrictions be on registered retirement savings plans, also known as RRSPs, and reduced tax rates for RRIFs, which are registered retirement income funds. [...]
It’s no secret that there’s a staffing crisis coming to the Canadian insurance industry. The same shortage of skilled, experienced and qualified staff is hitting the United States, as well. FirstBest Systems, Inc., provider of insurance software for U.S. Property & Casualty carriers, conducted a survey about training and knowledge sharing during the 2010 NAMIC [...]
New research by the Environics Research Group finds that 89 per cent of Canadians want workplace-based retirement savings programs made available to all workers. Fifty-six per cent of those not already in such plans are interested in joining one, with younger workers particularly keen (69 per cent of 18-29 years olds and 68 per cent [...]
A new study says just over 8.9 million employed Canadian tax filers participated in a private retirement savings plan in 2008, about half of all tax filers. Coming as the federal and provincial governments begin looking at ways to reform the country’s troubled pension system, the Statistics Canada report says the proportion of private pension [...]
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will ask Canadians how best to reform the country’s pension system. Flaherty has announced plans for a string of town-hall meetings, expert roundtables, policy conferences and public online consultations aimed involving a wide variety of Canadians in the discussion. Ottawa wants to sound out public opinion on the state of retirement [...]
Stop buying those lattes or splurging on vacations. David Dodge, former governor of the Bank of Canada, says Canadians need to save far more if they want to retire comfortably – even those Canadians who think they have great company pension plans and solid RRSPs. In a study on savings for the C.D. Howe Institute, [...]
View the video here on your mobile device. Ian Quigley: Well, it’s a dangerous game to make stock market predictions and I really don’t encourage financial planners or insurance agents – or really anybody – to make predictions about the stock market. But I can tell you that we can certainly reassure our clients that [...]
View the video here on your mobile device. TD Bank has joined a growing chorus warning about economic disruptions if Canada does not move to deal with its aging workforce. The bank says seven million baby boomers are set to retire in the next two decades, more than one-third Canada’s labour force. The report written [...]
View the video here on your mobile device. Announcer: The insurance industry is all to aware of the impending human resources crisis. ILSTV asked Renate Mueller, President of AMAC Consultants Inc. if the industry is doing enough to attract talented young people. Renate Mueller: I think that insurance brokers . . . the whole industry has [...]
View the video here on your mobile device. Canadian employers are increasing contributions to their group retirement plans and more employees are maximizing their contributions to get full employer matching contributions, according to the 2009 Capital Accumulation Plan Benchmark Report. Sponsored by The Great-West Life Assurance Company and based on a survey by Benefits Canada/Canadian [...]
View the video here on your mobile device. Released on March 4, 2010 and coming in at over 330 pages, the budget it was touted as “Part 2” of the Canadian Action Plan on Economic Growth. It was entitled, “Leading the Way on Jobs and Growth” and in a pre-release statement Finance Minister Jim Flaherty [...]
View the video here on your mobile device. More than half of Canadians – 57 per cent – feel there is no appropriate age for retirement and deciding when to retire is a personal choice, according to the 20th Annual RBC RRSP Poll. Nearly one-in-three Canadians (31 per cent) who are still working say they [...]
View the video here on your mobile device. A new report says Ottawa needs to break the “deadlock” in reforming the pension system by making changes in the March 4 budget. William Robson at the C.D. Howe Institute says the debate over how to encourage Canadians to save more for retirement is bogged down in [...]
