Sun Life Financial and CI Investments have added several new investment options to the SunWise Essential Series lineup, including mandates from Sun Life Global Investments and CI Investments. “Creating secure income for their retirement years is a high priority for Canadians,” said Kevin Dougherty, president, Sun Life Financial Canada. “The additions to the SunWise Essential […]
The new retirement season is beginning. What’s that you say? Don’t I know that retirement season is the first two months of the year, when investors can make contributions to their RRSP accounts and still claim the tax deduction for the preceding year? I am well aware of the end-of-February deadline for RRSP contributions but it doesn’t have to be that way. Planning for retirement should not be a one-time occurrence - it should be a continuous process throughout the year. This is not a new idea but it is an idea that needs to gain traction in the minds of advisors and investors. There are two very good reasons.
Planning for retirement income usually accepts that retirees can get by on far less than their pre-retirement income, as their expenses will be lower. But when it comes to household needs, spending barely declines at all, according to a report from Statistics Canada. Looking at spending and income patterns from 1982 and 2008, StatsCan found […]
In a speech to the Canadian Club of Montreal, the president of Sun Life Financial in Québec, Isabelle Hudon, said she is highly optimistic about the financial future of Québeckers following recent decisions by the Government of Québec to establish new voluntary retirement savings plans. In particular, she welcomed the addition of an automatic enrollment […]
The Quebec government is getting kudos from the industry for being the first province to introduce a new pension program for workers that lack private plans. The provincial budget, tabled on Thursday, proposes a voluntary retirement savings plan (VRSP), which according to the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) is based on the pooled […]
Financial advisors must make investment decisions for their clients based on whatever information is available at that moment, not unlike the physician who must make a diagnosis with limited information about his patient’s condition.
The 2011 Canadian Unretirement Index, released by Sun Life Financial today, shows the average Canadian expects to retire at age 68—three years later than respondents reported in the same study a year ago. The economic downturn has had the most significant impact on the retirement expectations among those earning less than $50,000 per year. They’re […]
Consumer confidence is higher now than it was in November of last year, according to the latest Harris/Decima-Investor’s Group Measure of Consumer Confidence. The upbeat mood also extended to their personal financial wellbeing and their short- and medium-term outlook—personally and for the Canadian economy. The overall measure of consumer confidence increased from 82.8 last November […]
As a potent savings tool, the Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) remains woefully underutilized for yet another year. A recent survey by BMO Financial Group revealed only 39% Canadians made an RRSP contribution, well below 50% as had been predicted by an earlier survey by the bank. “We are quite surprised that the number of […]
A report by Generational Insight suggests that roughly 41.5% of the Canadian population consists of 'Matures' (those born between 1909 and 1946) and 'Baby Boomers' (those born between 1947 and 1966).