CPP planning for your retirement

Did you know you're already planning for your retirement? If you're between 18 and 70, working within Canada (outside of Quebec) and earning more than $3,500 each year, you're actually making your financial future more secure with each paycheque through your contributions to Canada Pension Plan.

Every day, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board puts those contributions to work, growing the CPP Fund to provide contributors and beneficiaries with a reliable source of retirement income.

Yet, despite the program's investment successes, a recent survey found 42 per cent of working Canadians believe the CPP fund won't have enough money to cover their benefits through retirement. Luckily, this couldn't be farther from the truth. The numbers show the fund is sustainable for the long term, and saw one of its biggest increases in assets during its most recent fiscal year, rising 13.6 per cent yearover-year to $316.7 billion. Likewise, in its most recent triennial report, the chief actuary of Canada, who gauges the financial state of the fund, confirmed CPP is sustainable over the next 75 years at current contribution rates. In other words, the CPP Fund will pay out retirement benefits at least for the next 75 years.

But that doesn't mean the longevity of the fund will just end in 2090. By operating a well-managed fund with a long-term investment horizon, CPPIB is actively looking beyond the next 75 years as well. Through a diverse suite of asset classes — such as public and private equities, fixed income instruments, real estate and infrastructure — the fund will continue building wealth for Canadian workers, ensuring its contributors have a stable source of income available to them when they retire.