MoneySense » Pensions: A broken promise

Pensions: A broken promise

Rob Gerlsbeck — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:57:15 +0000

Thirty years ago, almost a third of workers had a great pensions. Now only 16% do. You will likely have to do without. Can you afford to retire without one?

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:37:22 +0000

The way I see it, DB's are great because of two realities.One they are indexed and second they are managed by pension pros who have the power to invest in asset classes that the individual investor can't. I am not to confident that our Gov. will help us level the field with the DB's the the public sector gets. A way the gov. could help the non public employees on an individual basis could be to create a DB planl which anyone could take there RRSP's and give thwm back to the goverment with a guanrantee that they would get a DB plan like the public sector get .(THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH AN RRSP IS THE FEAR OF LOOSING IT)

By: Bryan Borzykowski

Bryan Borzykowski — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:47:32 +0000

Hi John,
Your comment came in as unapproved for some reason. Must have been a glitch, but I've approved it. You can see it above this comment thread.

By: Bryan Borzykowski

Bryan Borzykowski — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:44:12 +0000

Hi John,
Our comments are not moderated so everything that gets posted should appear. We may take something down if it's defamatory or spam, but otherwise we want to hear what you have to say. I can check to see if a comment of yours was accidentally deleted, but it should have gone through as long as you hit submit comment.

By: John

John — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:41:22 +0000

Why do you only post comments that say what you want to hear ? Manipulation ?

By: John

John — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:46:24 +0000

My Dad is 88 in a care home .( 43 years at his job )
His entire pension check is taken by the goverment in extra fee / extra taxes .
He would be in an identical situation without a pension.
Sounds socialist to me . So maybe we should all stop saving anything . Let the goverment care for us?
Thats how it works now , unless you are above middle class.

By: pesion

pesion — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:20:02 +0000

Not all pesions are the same. Federal employees pay 32% of contributions towards pension but OMERS pays 50% of contributions. Are both couples saving the same amount and for the same time period? The pensions may be integrated which means the loss of some and possibly all of the individual's CPP (paid for but no benefit). Therefore, the non CPP pensin is providing a reduced amount of benefit. What are all the assumptions for both couples?

By: R Jakes

R Jakes — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:15:08 +0000

In the article it stated "… You only have to look at growing gap between public sector workers, who still have defined benefit pensions…", I think this is a bit too broad a statement.
The public sector and crown corporations in Saskatchewan has been under a defined contribution plan since I believe 1977. The Honorable Wes Robbins, Minister of Finance, back then, started this plan to address the unfunded liability of public sector pensions. Yes, the money purchase plan did take a hit in 08/09, but over the time since I have been invovled (1982) in the plan it has averaged just under 10 % annual return. Our family has also been diligent in maxing our RRSP's each year, but I fear that becasue we have taken the meaures to look after my retirement, the government will lower the clawback thresholds and erode our disposable income in retirement. The middle class takes on the chin again. Yes/No?

By: D Elash

D Elash — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:45:21 +0000

Is it not true that policies that govenments implement end up screwing those that they were meant to help? Perhaps the goverment should forgo the tax payable on RRSPs. What greater act of humanity could a goverment do for it's taxpayers in these trying times!