Monday, October 29, 2012

Shifting sands of retirement planning

Defined-contribution pension investments are managed by each individual plan member and are quickly replacing Defined Benefit Plans. This is going to be a major problem for our Country as it is for other countries around the world. In a report by the Financial Post in May the writer talked about the lack of preparation for retirement that will hurt us in the long run.
Despite heightened awareness and attention of the financial markets and the impact they could have on retirement nest eggs, Canadians remain predominantly indifferent toward their pension investments.
A BMO Retirement Institute study found 48% of women and 38% of men have no financial plan or investments.
Statistics Canada’s most numbers, show an estimated one million Canadians (6% of the workforce) are currently registered in a defined-contribution pension plan. Yet, few are actively managing their assets
Idan Shlesinger, managing partner of defined-contribution Pensions and Savings Plans at insurance consultancy firm Morneau Shepell, says most defined-contribution plan members mistakenly believe they need not worry about their retirement because they have a pension. “The impact of DC pensions hasn’t entirely been felt yet; the concern is that when it happens there will be a great deal of disappointment out there,” says Mr. Shlesinger
In England less than half of pension savers, just 46%, are putting aside enough for their retirement -- a number that's five percentage points down on last year, and a fall of eight percentage points from 2009.
To cut a long story short, it turns out that one in six pension savers has stopped making monthly pension contributions since the recession started in 2008. Keeping the wolf from the door today, in short, has taken priority over keeping the wolf from the door in retirement.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), over a million of people in Britain have suspended monthly pension contributions, with pension contributions falling from £20.9 billion in 2008 to £18.7 billion in 2010 -- a fall of just over 10%. 

There are no reports that I could find about how many Canadians have reduced or stopped payments into their RRSP programs since the recession, perhaps there are studies done, so if you know of one, could you please post the link here for us.

1 comment:

  1. Hey! I am glad to stop by your site and know more about retirement planning. Keep it up! This is a good read. I will be looking forward to visit your page again and for your other posts as well. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about retirement planning in your area.
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