The Pension Puzzle Your Complete Guide to Government Benefits, RRSPs, and Employer Plans

The topic of pensions has never been hotter. High-profile news stories of companies such as Air Canada and Stelco being pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by rising pension costs point to a broader pension funding crisis. In fact, a growing number of companies are reducing the benefits they will eventually pay out to retiring employees, or switching from defined benefit to defined contribution plans in an effort to cut expenses. What does this mean for the average Canadian? How well are we covered by government pensions anyway? Will you have enough to retire on? Millions of Canadians are covered by pension plans in one form or another-whether that's CPP, a company plan, or personal RRSPs. Understanding pensions is crucial to every Canadian's financial security in retirement, but they are the benefit least understood by employees.

Bruce Cohen (Port Perry, ON) established himself as one of Canada's top personal finance writers when he was personal finance columnist for the Financial Post. He is a freelance writer for financial companies and the author of the bestseller, The Money Adviser.
Brian FitzGerald (Toronto, ON) is a prominent actuary and expert in retirement program design and operation. He recently retired as a principal from one of Canada's leading pension and benefits consulting firms.