[March 18, 2014]

HOOPP White Paper Shows Value of Adequate Retirement Income, Public Concerns on Savings

The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) has released a White Paper on retirement adequacy that shows the economic benefit of secure retirement, and the concerns citizens have about achieving that goal.

The White Paper (News - Alert), titled Retirement Income Crisis: Inevitable or Avoidable? The Economic Reality, features research from the Boston Consulting Group and the Gandalf Group.

Among the findings discussed in the White Paper:

• Those with defined benefit (DB) pension plans are far less reliant on the taxpayer-funded Guaranteed Income Supplement program.
• Ontario DB retirees spend approximately $27 billion a year on goods and services, creating employment and boosting the economy, and contribute approximately $3 billion a year in income taxes, and a further $3 billion in sales and property taxes.
• 79 per cent of Canadians want pension plans at work that have guarantees around future income, and 65 per cent feel the economy will suffer if there continues to be a trend towards retirement income inadequacy.

"The White Paper shows the importance of retirement security - certainty about income means people are more willing to spend their money on goods and services," says HOOPP President & CEO Jim Keohane. "The research also shows that most Canadians are very concerned about attaining security in retirement." Keohane says the focus of pension reform needs to be about ensuring solutions are found that provide retirement income adequacy for all Ontarians.

Keohane, along with representatives from the Boston Consulting Grup and Gandalf Group, presented the research to government and healthcare stakeholders yesterday at a conference held at the MaRS Centre in Toronto.

The White Paper has been posted on hoopp.com here: http://hoopp.com/uploadedFiles/Content/Newsroom/newsdocs/Retirement_income_crisis_inevitable_or_avoidable.pdf. The site now features a new defined benefit section, which can be viewed here: http://hoopp.com/Learning-Resources/Defined-Benefit-Plan/DB-Advocacy/

About the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan

Created in 1960, HOOPP is the pension plan of choice for Ontario's hospital and community-based healthcare sector with over 470 participating employers. HOOPP's 286,000 members and pensioners include nurses, medical technicians, food services staff and laundry workers, and many other people who work hard to provide valued Ontario healthcare services.

As a defined benefit plan, HOOPP provides eligible members with a retirement income based on a formula that takes into account a member's earnings history and length of service in the Plan. Once eligible members start receiving a pension, they receive it for life.

HOOPP is governed by a Board of Trustees with representation from the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) and four unions: the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA), the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Ontario Public Service Employees' Union (OPSEU), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The unique governance model provides representation from both management and workers in support of the long-term interests of the Plan.

Recent media releases from HOOPP
http://hoopp.com/Media_Release_Archives/

Retirement income adequacy blog:
www.ariapensions.ca

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