[HEADLINE NEWS FOR CANADIANS]
CANADIANS AT 65: 6 BIG CANADA PENSION PLAN CHANGES ARRIVE IN
2012
TORONTO,
FEBRUARY 2,
2012 (PHNO) The prime
minister says that the Canada Pension Plan is 'fully funded, actuarially sound
and does not need to be changed,' but a close look at the plan shows some
alterations to the CPP are already underway.
The rules governing the Canada Pension Plan are updated regularly, but most
years the changes are limited to simple increases to benefit payments and
premiums. Not this year.
Ottawa is bringing in a raft of new or tweaked policies to reflect that
retirement these days is more of a gradual transition for many people rather
than a single event. Many of these changes either begin in 2012 or are entering
the next phase-in period, and they'll have a direct impact on the retirement
plans of Canadians.
In some cases, the changes are big enough that people nearing retirement may
want to have a chat with a financial adviser before deciding exactly when to
apply for a CPP retirement pension.
Early CPP, lower benefits
The first change involves payment rates.
People can choose to take a CPP retirement pension as early as age 60. But
there's a catch - a 0.5 per cent reduction in the pension payout for each month
before age 65 that someone begins receiving it. That translates into a
retirement benefit that's 30 per cent less at age 60 than it would be if you
waited until 65.
Starting in 2012, Ottawa is beginning to phase in a bigger reduction to get
that early access.
For 2012, the penalty rises to 0.52 per cent per month - or a 31.2 per cent
reduction for someone who starts receiving the retirement pension at age 60.
The early-bird reduction will continue to rise until 2016, when it hits 0.6
per cent per month, or a maximum 36 per cent reduction for those who start
receiving CPP payments at age 60 rather than waiting until they reach 65.
Later CPP, bigger benefits
Similarly, those who wait until after the age of 65 to start collecting CPP
will get a bigger increase in their retirement benefit.
Before 2011, the rules stated that the CPP retirement benefit was boosted by
0.5 per cent for each month after age 65 that an individual put off receiving
it. So someone who waited until age 70 would enjoy a 30 per cent boost in their
payments.
But starting in 2011, the government began to phase in a gradual increase to
that delay bonus.
For 2012, the increase for each month after 65 that a person delays applying
for CPP goes to 0.64 per cent - or a maximum increase of 38.4 per cent for those
who start receiving a pension at age 70. By 2013, the maximum bonus moves to 42
per cent.
These changes won't affect people who are already receiving CPP benefits.
They are being made, according to Service Canada, to restore these adjustments
to "actuarially fair levels," so there are "no unfair advantages or
disadvantages to early or late take-up of CPP retirement benefits."
Drop-out years increase
Canadians currently don't need to contribute to the CPP every year from age
18 to age 65 to get a full CPP retirement pension. When someone's average
earnings over their contributory period are calculated, 15 per cent of their
lowest earning years are automatically ignored when the calculation is made. For
someone who takes their CPP retirement pension at age 65, that means seven years
of low or zero earnings are dropped from the equation.
But starting in 2012, that "general drop-out provision," as it's called, goes
up to 16 per cent.
For someone eligible for CPP benefits in 2012, that will allow up to 7.5
years of the lowest earnings to be excluded from the calculations, boosting the
retirement benefit paid.
In 2014, the percentage will rise again to 17 per cent, which will allow up
to eight years of low earnings to be dropped.
These changes can really benefit people who entered the workforce late, who
were unemployed for a long time, or took time off to go back to school.
One point to note is that there are separate drop-out provisions specifically
for time spent out of the workforce because of disability or to have children.
'Work cessation test' dropped
CPP rules used to require that someone stop or drastically reduce the amount
they earned during the two consecutive months before they began to receive a CPP
retirement pension.
This was, for many Canadians, an annoying and costly requirement - especially
since so many people now ease into retirement instead of stopping work
completely.
Now, that rule is history. Beginning in 2012, the "work cessation test" has
been eliminated.
Post-retirement benefits
There's another rule change that's important for semi-retirees to be aware
of. Before 2012, if someone started receiving a CPP retirement pension early -
say, at age 62 - they didn't have to make any CPP contributions if they decided
to collect payments but also keep working after age 62.
Starting this year, if you are under age 65 and continue to work while also
drawing a retirement pension, you and your employer must make CPP contributions.
The good news for employees is that these extra contributions will be
credited to what's called a Post-Retirement Benefit (PRB), which will result in
a higher CPP retirement pension in the year after you make contributions to your
PRB. This measure is a nod to the reality that many "retired" Canadians are
still working.
Canadians who continue working after age 65 and are receiving a retirement
benefit will have the choice of whether or not they want to make CPP
contributions. If they choose to make them, their employer must kick in their
share too. Those additional contributions will go toward higher benefits
beginning the year after the PRB contributions.
Premiums and benefits rise
CPP benefits are always adjusted to reflect the rising cost of living. For
2012, the increase in benefits is 2.8 per cent. That will bring the maximum
monthly CPP retirement pension to $986.67.
Contribution rates are unchanged. But since the yearly earnings maximum that
the rate applies to is going up, the maximum annual contribution will rise by
about $89 in 2012 to $2,306.70 for both employees and employers.
FROM Sympatico.ca
FINANCE
Health-care costs could downgrade Canada's credit
31/01/2012 5:08:19 PM
CBC News
Standard & Poor's is warning that Canada and other G20 countries
could face credit downgrades if they don't control expected increases in
health-care costs as the average age of their population rises.
The ratings agency, in a report issued Thursday, says governments in advanced
economies have missed the importance of health-care cost increases linked to
aging populations.
"In general, policymakers have focused more on other areas of age-related
spending - particularly pensions - at the expense of health-care costs, to
improve the long-term sustainability of social protection systems," the report
says.
"Steadily rising health-care spending will pull heavily on public purse
strings in the coming decades."
"If governments do not change their social protection systems, they will
likely become unsustainable," it says.
The report says possible reforms include adopting technology that reduces the
costs of providing care, controlling prescription costs and abuse of health-care
systems, increasing the role of private sector health care providers and
reducing coverage.
The study modelled likely increases in health-care costs out to 2050, if
governments did nothing more to manage costs and just kept borrowing to meet
increases.
Canada's debt would soar
That model suggests age-related costs - pensions, health care, unemployment
insurance and long-term care - would push Canada's net debt to grow by 260 per
cent from 2030 to 2050.
Health-care costs, already among the biggest government spending categories,
would rise not only because of increases in the proportion of older citizens,
but also with advances in expensive medical technology.
Maintaining pensions may remain the biggest age-related cost, but health care
will see the fastest growth, S&P predicts.
"We project that health-care costs for a typical advanced economy will stand
at 11.1 per cent of GDP by 2050, up from 6.3 per cent of GDP in 2010."
It predicts that these costs in Canada would rise from under eight per cent
of GDP in 2010 to more than 13 per cent by 2050.
S&P forecasts that health-care spending as a share of total age-related
spending in Canada would increase by more than 70 per cent by 2050.
Emerging economies, especially in Southeast Asia, it says, may have more time
to respond to the challenges of increases in health-care spending because of the
lower proportion of elderly and their expected higher economic growth rates.
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
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