Financially independent seniors require less government help: Frazer Stark

Writing in the Financial Post, Frazer Stark notes that the “looming crisis” of baby boomer retirements — with those boomers living longer lives than their forbears — can be solved with a little more focus on self-reliance.

“Retirees,” he writes, “face uncertainty on multiple fronts: market returns, cost inflation and their own physical health. Yet it’s the unknown length of an individual’s ultimate lifespan that creates a labyrinthine financial planning challenge.”

“Consider that a 65-year-old woman entering retirement can expect to live on average to age 87,” he explains. “This average hides variability: she still has a 10-per-cent chance of living past 100, a one-per-cent chance of living past 105 and a tiny chance of reaching 110 or even beyond that (the oldest Canadian on record passed away at 117 years and 230 days). This variability makes determining how much to safely spend from her nest egg rather tricky,” he writes.

This danger of outliving one’s savings, he explains, can be handled several ways. You can “play it safe” and avoid drawing down your savings, he writes. But that carries the cost of “not fully enjoying these special retirement years while we can.”

You could also simply ignore the problem of living into your 90s and beyond by spending “freely as you set into retirement.” This can backfire, Stark adds, and your future you may suffer as a result of early heavy spending.

Defined benefit (DB) pension plans, Stark continues, offer a form of insurance against longevity, as such pensions are paid for life. Yet, he says, we “continue to steadily transition away from the DB pension structures that offered comfortable, confident retirements to previous generations.” Less than nine per cent of private-sector workers have DB plans today, compared to 50 per cent in the late 1970s, he notes.

Because such plans are so scarce in the private sector (they are more common in the public sector), Stark writes that “some… are giving up, viewing retirement as an unattainable goal.” Recent research has found that many have “curtailed saving,” rather than cutting back on today’s expenses to save for tomorrow, he continues.

As an example, he writes that the average price of a new car in 2022 hit more than $61,000, while in the same year, “59 per cent of Canadians said they were saving nothing for retirement, or little at all.”

Only a small percentage of Canadians insure themselves against running out of money in retirement via the use of lifetime annuities, he writes.

There has been progress in rolling out low-fee retirement savings programs (Stark mentions Wealthsimple), but “a similar evolution is now essential for the decumulation phase,” when saved retirement dollars are turned into income.

“Last year, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) updated its pension-program guidelines, recommending that member countries provide their retired populations access to income-for-life options, including `by non-guaranteed arrangements where longevity risk is pooled among participants,’” Stark writes.

While work is being started by government and the financial sector on programs that address longevity risk for retirees, the path to this future “remains largely untrodden, and much work remains,” he continues.

Stark sees a solution in boosting “baseline education” about finances, and developing for Canadians “a set of tools to solve the decumulation problem for themselves.” This won’t be easy, will require a lot of innovation, but will be worth it, he predicts.

“Every Canadian who can comfortably navigate their own retirement finances is one less person requiring expensive subsidized care from the public purse, which must come from either increased taxes, additional borrowing or reduced spending elsewhere. The fourth option would be to simply not provide aid, creating tremendous suffering among our vulnerable elderly population and a stain on our national conscience,” he concludes.

This is a very well-written and detailed look at an insidious problem that tends to bite you in the backside when you are too old to deal with it — running out, or running low, on retirement income.

There is a way out of this for members of the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. SPP has you covered on the savings side — your contributed dollars are invested in a low-cost, expertly managed pooled fund. But SPP also has you covered at the drawdown stage. You can choose from a variety of SPP annuity options when you retire. All of them will provide you with an income supply that never runs out — a payment nestled in your bank account at the beginning of every month.

Check out SPP today!

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Canadian women receive 18 per cent less retirement income: analysis

Women in this country receive, on average, 18 per cent less retirement income than men, reports Wealth Professional.

The publication cites an analysis of Statistics Canada data recently carried out by Ontario’s Pay Equity Office (PEO). Another alarming finding, Wealth Professional adds, is that the gap of 18 per cent in 2020 is worse than the 15 per cent gap women experienced in 1976.

This gap, known as the Gender Pension Gap (GPG), has long been a problem, the article continues.

“Among the 34 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the average GPG was 25.6 per cent as of 2021,” the article adds, again citing PEO analysis.

Across the country, the widest GPG is over in Alberta, where women’s retirement income is, on average, 23 per cent less than that of men. The province with the lowest gap – 13 per cent – is Prince Edward Island, the article notes.

“We see that the Gender Wage Gap (GWG) has narrowed with time. Meaning, women’s wages in Canada have steadily increased with time to be closer to that of men’s, although the gap has not closed completely,” states the PEO’s Kadie Ward in the article. “A natural assumption would be that with increased wages, the pension gap would also begin to close with time, but this does not appear to be the case,” she states.

There are several reasons why, the article continues.

“After having children, women are more likely than men to leave the workforce (temporarily or permanently), work fewer years over the course of their careers, work part-time to balance caregiving responsibilities, and make less money overall than men (due to the GWG),” the article explains.

“The impacts of the GPG should not be dismissed. Aging in poverty is linked to food insecurity, housing insecurity, and overall poor health outcomes, including higher rates of mortality,” Ward tells Wealth Professional.

“[T]here is no better time to call attention to not only the contributions of women around the world but the need for equal pay, better social protections, and shared domestic work between men and women,” she tells the publication.

There’s another factor to consider that this article doesn’t touch on, and that is the reality that women live longer than men. So, as the article notes, if the average woman has 18 per cent less retirement income than a man, she is also very likely to live (and thus, need retirement income) longer. That smaller pension pot will most likely need to sustain her for a longer time.

Women who do have a pension plan or retirement arrangement through work should make sure they are contributing to the max. Some types of plans allow you to contribute while you are away on a maternity leave (or afterwards, on your return to work). Your retired you will be glad if you look into this when you are younger.

If you don’t have any sort of retirement arrangement at work – or want to top up what you have – the Saskatchewan Pension Plan may be a very helpful resource. Set up originally to benefit women without any pension benefits, SPP is open to people with registered retirement savings plan room. SPP will take your contributions, grow them through prudent investing, and will help you turn them into retirement income down the road. Check out SPP today!

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State pension benefits starting later around the world

Here in Canada, the “normal” age at which you can start full government retirement benefits – the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS) – is 65.

That date probably reflects the old “mandatory retirement” rules of years ago which decreed that at 65, it was time to go.

But with people now living longer and working until they’re older, an article by Schroders notes that moving beyond age 65 for official pension start dates.

For instance, the article notes, in the U.S., pensions start at 66 and will move to 67 in 2027. Australia is similar, and will move to age 67 in 2023. The Netherlands and several other European country are moving to a “67+” start date with links to life expectancy rates, Schroders tells us.

Schroders explains the shift this way.

“The model common in most developed countries – start work at 18 to 21 and retire at around 60 to 65 – no longer looks viable as governments try to balance pension obligations with stretched public finances,” the article tells us.

Another factor, the article continues, is the increase in life expectancy. There is a growing “demographic imbalance where there are fewer retired persons for every retired person,” we are told. Not only are older folks living longer, but the birth rate is declining, meaning the talent pool to replace retiring workers isn’t growing as it once was, the article states.

“Typically, the fertility rate required to replace an existing population is 2.1 children per woman,” the article notes. “According to the latest data, the average for the 35 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is 1.7. Many countries, including Germany, Japan and Spain sit at 1.5 or lower,” Schroders explains.

So the ratio of the working to the “dependant,” those not working any longer, “has fallen and will keep falling for decades,” the article adds.

Lesley-Ann Morgan, Schroders’ Head of Retirement, calls this situation “a ticking timebomb.” Retirement systems “may not be affordable in some countries unless adjustments are made,” and the easiest way to fix them is to move the retirement age forward.

The takeaway for those of us who are not retired is this – pay attention to what’s going on with the CPP and OAS, and retirement rules in general, because they can change. Most recently, the CPP expanded its benefits for future retirees – good news for younger workers – but the power of demographics may mean other changes that are yet to be enacted.

One way you can help protect yourself against future changes in state pension benefits is by having your own retirement nest egg. A great option is the Saskatchewan Pension Plan, which allows you to stash up to $6,600 a year away for retirement. That money is professionally invested, and at retirement, if you are worried you might live to 104 like your mom, SPP has annuity options that ensure you won’t run out of money no matter how many birthday candles they put on the cake. Check out SPP today.

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A look at the best of the Internet, from an SPP point of view

What if the boomer retirement wave is a trickle, rather than a tidal wave?

We all seem to feel pretty certain that any time now, an unprecedented wave of boomer retirements (some call it the silver tsunami) will wash ashore, overloading the system and causing all kinds of problems.

Financial author and MacDonald-Laurier Institute fellow Linda Nazareth isn’t so sure.

Writing in the Globe and Mail, she likens concerns about this upcoming boomer retirement wave to “almost an urban legend.”

She says many speculate that “shortages of workers will be the bane of every industry,” and “younger workers will finally (finally!!) get to experience what it’s like to be in a seller’s market. After all, every day that huge generation gets older they are collectively getting a day closer to the golf course and out of the office.”

However, there may be a few facts getting in the way of this great story, she writes. A recent study by the OECD, Nazareth notes, suggests “there are factors at play that will keep older workers in the workforce and that will go a long way toward offsetting the impact of population aging in most developed countries, including Canada.”

The OECD research noted, she writes, that many countries, including Canada, have done away with mandatory retirement ages. Getting rid of those old rules – here it used to be retirement by age 65 – led to a “10.9 percentage point increase in the labour force participation rate… of those between 55 and 74 between 2002 and 2019,” she explains.

The OECD, Nazareth explains, chalks up the increase in older workers to “rising life expectancy,” the fact that people are living (and thus working) longer, and “educational attainment,” the idea that better-educated workers can stay on the job longer.

So instead of a “silver tsunami,” Nazareth says the OECD data suggests that the number of older people in the workforce should actually begin to increase “by 3.4 percentage points through 2030 for the median (OECD) country.” Japan will see a startling 11.5 per cent increase in older workers by 2030, at the lower end, Germany will see a fall of 2.5 per cent in the same timeframe.  Canada should see the older worker participation rate dip by 1.7 per cent by 2030.

Nazareth concludes from the OECD data that the long-expected explosion of boomer retirements is being delayed by “longer lifespans… and higher education levels.” Another factor, she explains, is that while older folks may be working longer, they may tend to be doing so “on contracts or in part-time jobs.” Nonetheless, she concludes, “the rush to the golf greens may be a little slower than expected.”

These conclusions sure seem to line up with what those of us of a certain age – let’s say 60 – are seeing. Those of us with good workplace pensions are leaving or planning to leave the workplace, those without intend to keep working. Many are working or consulting into their 70s.

One great way to ease the transition from working to not working is to augment any workplace pension you may receive with personal savings. A great place to park your hard-earned retirement dollars is the Saskatchewan Pension Plan, which offers professional, low-cost investing, an enviable track record of growth, and best of all, many options at retirement to turn your savings into lifetime income. Be sure to click on over to check them out!

Written by Martin Biefer
	Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing, classic rock, and darts. You can follow him on Twitter – his handle is @AveryKerr22

“Canadian dream” far more difficult to achieve for younger Canadians 

For boomers, the “Canadian dream” more or less echoed the dream our parents had – education, work, a house, a family, maybe even a cottage, and then a well-deserved retirement.

Research (using 2015 data) shows there is a serious flaw in this narrative for our millennial children. According to research from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), featured in a National Post article, millennials are “less likely to reach middle-income levels in their 20s than their baby boomer parents.”

Why aren’t our kids making it to the middle class?

The research suggests “the middle class is shrinking — squeezed by high housing and education costs, displaced by automation and lacking the skills most valued in the digital economy.” The middle class is defined, for a single person in Canada, as requiring an income level of 75 to 200 per cent of the national median income, the article reports. For single Canucks, that’s $29,000 to about $78,000, the story notes.

One of the unfortunate aspects of this so-called dream is that in order to advance upwards, you have to achieve each step of the ladder. Education costs have skyrocketed in the last few decades, forcing younger people to have to take out huge education loans. Wages from work, the article notes, aren’t keeping up with the real cost of living. According to the OECD research, “between 2008 and 2016 real median incomes grew by an average of just 0.3 per cent per year,” compared to 1.6 per cent annually in the mid-1990s to 2000s.

So the wages from work aren’t sufficient for housing, with middle-income earners having to spend “almost a third of their income on accommodation,” the report states. In the 1990s, that figure was more like 25 per cent.  That’s why our millennials struggle to get to the “getting a house” stage, and if they can afford to start a family, is there anything left over for that dream cottage and longish retirement?

According to the Seeking Alpha blog, the answer is probably no. “At 1.1%, the Canadian saving rate is today near all-time lows, while Canadian debt is at all-time highs,” the blog notes. There’s an obvious reason – wages haven’t kept up with the cost of housing, so the younger folks are straining just to cover the mortgage. There’s less left for saving.

Research by Richard Shillington has found that even boomers aren’t awash in savings as they approach retirement. His study found that 47 per cent of Canadians aged 55 to 64 have “no accrued pension benefits,” and that for this age group, the median level of retirement savings was a paltry $3,000.

There’s still time to turn this ship around. Policy makers should continue to look at ways to help new people enter the housing market, and perhaps old ideas like housing co-operatives – popular when high interest rates restricted people from owning homes – should be revisited. Ways to make education less costly would be a huge help. Improved government pension benefits are a help, but why not continue to develop new workplace pension plans – or continue to encourage private employers to join publicly-run plans? Any policy that helps Canadians move up that middle class ladder is worth exploring.

If you’re among the many Canadians lacking a pension plan at work, the Saskatchewan Pension Plan is designed with you in mind. You determine how much you want to save, and they do the rest, investing your money through your working years and arranging to pay you a monthly lifetime pension at the finish line. Even a small start can make a big difference down the road.

Written by Martin Biefer
	Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock. He and his wife live with their Shelties, Duncan and Phoebe, and cat, Toobins. You can follow him on Twitter – his handle is @AveryKerr22

A look at the best of the Internet, from an SPP point of view

Retirement system OK, but more needs to be done: study

It’s a classic “good news, bad news” situation, this Canadian retirement system of ours. The good news, according to OECD research published recently in Wealth Professional, is that the developed world’s pension systems are much more stable.

The bad news is that they’re not necessarily delivering an adequate retirement benefit, the magazine notes.

“Governments are facing growing challenges from an aging population, low returns on retirement savings, low growth, less stable employment careers and insufficient pension coverage among some groups of workers,” the article notes. “These challenges are eroding belief that pensions will provide enough income for comfortable living in retirement,” the article adds.

While Canada’s system is ranked sixth best among those studied, the article points out that Canadians contribute about 10 per cent of their earnings towards government retirement programs. By comparison, Italians contribute about 30 per cent of earnings, the article notes.

There’s no question that the CPP is on much more stable footing than in years past. The giant CPPIB fund, as of mid-2018, had $366 billion in assets and had an investment rate of return of 11.6 per cent, according to a media release.

But the CPP payout, while being improved, is currently quite modest. The maximum monthly amount as of July 2018 was $1,134.17, and the average amount paid out to new CPP retirees was $673.10. The great thing about CPP is that it continues for the rest of your life and is inflation protected.

Most of us will also get Old Age Security payments, which are currently around $600 a month. This is also a lifetime benefit.

What the studies are telling us, however, is that if we don’t have a workplace pension, we need to be saving on our own for retirement. CPP and OAS were designed to supplement your workplace pension and personal savings. Many of us don’t have pensions at work, and a surprising number of us don’t have any retirement savings either.

If you are in that situation, there is still time to take action. If you don’t have a pension at work, you can create your own by joining the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. You can determine how much to contribute up to a maximum level of $6,200 a year.

If you have dribs and drabs of RRSP savings in other places, those can be consolidated in the SPP (up to $10,000 a year).

Not only will SPP invest that money for you, but at the time you want to retire, they’ll convert it into a lifetime monthly pension. By creating your own retirement income base, those helpful government benefits waiting for you in your future will be icing on the cake, rather than the cake itself.

Written by Martin Biefer

Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. After a 35-year career as a reporter, editor and pension communicator, Martin is enjoying life as a freelance writer. He’s a mediocre golfer, hopeful darts player and beginner line dancer who enjoys classic rock and sports, especially football. He and his wife Laura live with their Sheltie, Duncan, and their cat, Toobins. You can follow him on Twitter – his handle is @AveryKerr22