The sooner you start, the more you’ll have at retirement. It’s never too early to start thinking about your future, and that includes retirement planning. As you’re building your career, a Defined Benefit (DB) pension like CAAT’s quietly sets the stage for a secure income stream in retirement. You can focus on your savings needs now, and your pension will be there for you when you retire.
More savings. No extra work. Your contributions are automatically deducted from your paycheque – and your employer also contributes on your behalf with every pay. This means that there’s no additional work for you - you have one less thing to worry about. Plus, you enjoy immediate tax savings on your contributions. The pension contributions you make are deducted from your gross income, which lowers your overall taxable income for the year.
Hard work should pay off. For so long, many hardworking Canadians haven’t had the opportunity to build reliable retirement income while they worked. That makes it hard to retire confidently - or even at all! It shouldn’t be like this. The #pensionsforeveryone message helps spread the word that all Canadians deserve secure income in retirement. At CAAT, we think that the best way to achieve this is by expanding DB pension access to everyone.
By spreading our message, you’re helping a greater cause. We think all Canadians should have access to a secure workplace pension, and Plan Ambassadors can help. Helping more Canadians hear the #pensionsforeveryone message and how CAAT is working to expand access to DB pensions is good for everyone.
Your voice, combined with others, makes a difference. Plan Ambassadors are a collective force advocating for the value of DB pensions that influences public perception and policy discussions. Together, our collective efforts amplify the importance of DB pensions, ensuring that policymakers, employers, and the public understand the positive impact DB plans have on retirement security. When you get involved, you make a difference: you can help shape the important national conversation about the long-term benefits of DB pensions for individuals and society as a whole.
A DB pension unlocks a secure and sustainable source of retirement income. In a DB pension, you contribute, and your employer contributes at least as much as you – helping you build your pension. If you had to go it alone and DIY your retirement, you'd be responsible for fully funding your own retirement and would be impacted by market fluctuations over time.
Pension plans are carefully regulated and structured to protect members and ensure that members get the benefits promised. When you’re ready to retire, you’ll receive a monthly pension payment for life, so you don’t have to worry about market fluctuations or outliving your savings.
DB pensions last a lifetime. Allowing members to access the entire pot at retirement would be contrary to a pension’s primary purpose – that is, to provide benefits throughout your retirement. That’s because the design of a DB pension is based on a formula that provides members a secure and predictable monthly pension payment for life. One of the retirement challenges that the structure of a monthly DB pension alleviates is the uncertainty of how long you’re going to live and to make your savings last.
The best part of DB membership is that you don’t have to worry about making investment decisions. While DB pensions may distance you from day-to-day investment decisions, this structure is designed to benefit plan members collectively. The structure of a DB pension plan emphasizes a fiduciary duty to members and does so using diversified investment strategies to maximize returns and ensure the plan's long-term sustainability. And, since CAAT has a joint governance structure, member and employer representatives have an equal say in making decisions that affect benefit security, so you can be certain your interests are represented.