AUPE Local 002

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Retirement and Pension

[ Pension Plan | Retirement Planning | Trends| Other Income | Benefits ]

Public Service Pension Plan

The PSPP is a defined benefit plan which means members will receive a pension based on their pensionable salary and years of pensionable service. In a defined benefit plan, the investment performance of the pension fund will not affect the calculation of your pension.

This enables you to plan for your retirement because you can estimate your future pension income. The Plan is financed by employee and employer contributions and by investment earnings.

Visit: www.pspp.ca/ to find out about:

• Portability of the pension plan - effective January 1, 2008, if you are an active member of PSPP with pension entitlements, you may be able to transfer those entitlements into PSPP through a reciprocal transfer agreement.
• How to estimate your pension benefits
• Pension plan finanical information, business plans, annual reports
• Member handbook

Current contributors can log on to member services at: www.mypensionplan.ca/mos/PublicHome.pbl, to:

• view their latest annual statement
• use calculators to generate benefit estimates
• view their personal information online
• get access to pension related forms

Retirement Planning

The Government of Alberta Learning Centre offers retirement planning seminars.  Find out more by going to this link: http://www.goalearningcentre.gov.ab.ca/

Page 28 of the 2009/10 catalogue gives details on the retirement planning series.

Registration can be done through: www.myagent.gov.ab.ca

Trends in Pension Plans

• In 1974, only 5.6 percent of all members of occupational pension plans were in defined-contribution (DC)schemes. The great majority of members – 92.7 percent – belonged to defined-benefit (DB) plans.
• By 2004, membership in DC schemes had grown to 15.7 percent, while membership in DB plans had declined to 81.5 percent. This demonstrates that the shift from DB to DC schemes, which has been very pronounced in the United States and the United Kingdom, is also taking place in Canada, but at a slower rate.
• An analysis of data for the public sector and the private sector examined separately shows a marked difference between the two. In the public sector, membership remains overwhelmingly in DB schemes – in 2004, 93.3 percent.
• In 1974, 1.1 percent of all members of occupational pension plans in the public sector belonged to DC schemes, and by 2004 this had increased only to 5.7 percent.
• In the private sector, in contrast, the shift to DC schemes was much larger. In 1974, 9.4 percent of all members of private-sector occupational pension plans – a little under one in ten – belonged to a DC scheme.
• By 2004 this had increased to 25.2 percent – about one in four.

Source:  Edward Tamagno, Occupational Pension Plans in Canada: Trends in Coverage and the Incomes of Seniors, The Caledon Institute of Social Policy, December 2006.
http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/PDF/610ENG.pdf

Other Income for Retirement Planning

Canada Pension Plan - Currently, members can begin collecting pension benefits as early as age 60. The amount you pay is based on your salary. Contributions on your annual earnings between a minimum and a set maximum level (this maximum level is adjusted each January, based on increases in the average wage e). Members who earn more than the maximum level of pensionable earnings (many members in Local 002) in a given year, will only contribute up to the maximum level. Any over-contributions will be refunded when you file your tax return.  Read more.

The Old Age Security program - provides you with a modest pension at age 65 if you have lived in Canada for at least 10 years.  Read more.