Empowering your employees’ futures.

Barriers often include not knowing there are tools available to help them, not understanding how to use those tools, and a reluctance to face how far they are from their goals. As a first step in addressing these barriers, deploy communication that gets plan members interested in attending education sessions.

In addition to in-person workshops, offer recorded webinars and quick videos that convey one important message in two to three minutes. You can even consider opening sessions to plan members’ partners, since the partner may be the one who makes financial decisions for the household.

Employee education sessions should be offered consistently at least once a year, and employers can consider making them mandatory – perhaps for a period of two years during which virtually all employees can acquire a base level of knowledge about retirement planning.

The first step is to appoint a staff member to oversee the plan. Depending on the size of the company, it may be an employee who works in payroll, finance or HR. This person will internally distribute enrolment material and set up automatic payroll deductions for those who decide to participate. This individual should be aware of the company’s matching rate and when employees will be eligible to join.

As part of the rollout, information to employees should include the benefits of saving for retirement; the tax benefits of contributing to an RRSP; the plan details such as eligibility, contribution rates, fees, and withdrawals; and where they can get more information. They should also know about situations where they can withdraw before retirement, such as through the federal Home Buyers’ Plan and the Lifelong Learning Plan.

Yes, Acera Benefits advisors can support you through your plan rollout and ongoing management. They are available for information sessions and meetings with employees and can provide a wealth of materials and resources to help communicate the details of your group retirement and savings plan and how employees can best leverage them.

Yes, any amount over what is matched by your employer is called your voluntary contribution. However, it is your responsibility to remain under your CRA contribution limit (found on your Notice of Assessment).

If you do go over your CRA contribution limit, you can expect to pay a tax of 1% per month on any excess contributions. For more details, please visit: What happens if you go over your RRSP deduction limit? – Canada.ca.

Yes! When you leave, you will receive a conversion package that will give you three options: 

• Leave your RRSP with the current provider and move to a personal plan.
• Transfer it to another registered retirement account.
• Cash it out (note that you will be taxed on the amount cashed as if it were regular income).

You can increase your contributions at any time, but you must wait until you have been with your employer for the prescribed amount of time before they will increase the percentage that will be matched.

This amount can be found on your most recent Notice of Assessment (NOA) sent to you by the CRA.

Yes, there are many benefits to consolidating your RRSPs into one account, including: 

• You will pay lower Investment Management Fees.
• Consolidating enables simplified tracking of all your investments.
• When all in one place, it is easier to assess how your investments match your goals (and make changes as necessary). 
• Coordinating your RRSP contributions with future withdrawals, and identifying where you can leverage tax advantages, becomes much less complicated.