Reforming the Canadian Retirement System: Investing Social Security Assets in Equities
by Steven A. Sass
December 2006
GIB#5
Introduction
Canada, like the United States, has developed a retirement income system that relies on both public and employer-sponsored plans to provide a reasonable level of old-age income. Canada's public programs largely focus on assuring a basic old-age income and provide quite modest benefits to higher-income workers. Canada's employer plans provide significant topups for middle- and upper-income workers. Powerful demographic and economic forces, however, have emerged over the past quarter century that have challenged the long-term solvency of both public and employer plans. Canada, in response, has had to reform both public and private retirement income programs...
For full paper in PDF
Steven A. Sass is the Associate Director for Research at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. The research reported herein was supported by a generous grant from the Cogan Family Foundation. The author would also like to thank Luke Delorme and Marric Buessing for excellent research assistance and Francis Vitagliano and Andrew Eschtruth for astute and careful editing.