Pension Plan

Clinical Staff

The Pension Plan for Academic Staff is a defined contribution plan where contributions are made on all taxable income paid through the university (subject to income tax limits). Members are required to contribute at least 1.5% of taxable earnings and the University will contribute 8.5% of taxable earnings to an investment account. Members may choose to contribute additional amounts on a voluntary basis to use up retirement savings room permitted under income tax regulations (in most cases up to another 8% of earnings). Members direct the investments of all contributions among several investment options offered across core asset classes. Upon retirement, the accumulated contributions are converted to a life time stream of payments.

Contributions will end at date of termination, retirement or the end of the year in which the member attains age 69.

Upon resignation and retirement, 100% of all contributions allocated to the plan and investment income is payable. It may be transferred out to an investment administrator of the member’s choice or may remain invested with the University. Members must establish an income stream by the end of the year in which the member attains age 71.  (Read the Retirement Guide for more details on retirement Income Payment Options.)

Getting the most out of your savings:

You have access to diversified and strong performing institutional investment portfolios at costs that leverage the group purchasing power of the University. With pension and endowment portfolios amounting in excess of $1.5 Billion, the University has negotiated very reasonable investment management fees, which are on average about 1/6th the cost of retail mutual funds available to Canadian investors. These reduced fees allow you to maximize the accumulation available at retirement. The average annual investment fees for the options under the academic pension plan equals 0.40% of the assets invested. For similar balanced portfolios in the retail mutual fund market, investors pay a median of 2.50%. The difference of 2.1% per year in fees, accumulated during a physicians career, can result in a retirement income difference of more than 40%.


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