Friday 1 April 2011

One Investor's Wish List for the Canadian Election

Rob Carrick of the Globe and Mail published his wish list to politicians in the current Canadian election, so here is mine.

  1. Expand the CPP by increasing pensionable earnings limits and raising contribution rates to target a 40% income replacement rate. If I could only get one wish, this is it. It is the best solution by far for what retirees need and in comparison to present alternatives or to the proposed PRPPs.
  2. Triple the annual TFSA contribution limit ... ok, I'll compromise with doubling it. It is a simple, understandable, effective multi-purpose account but the $5000 is too little.
  3. Start selling Real Return 1-5 year maturity Canada Savings Bonds as I wrote about here. Retirees without inflation-indexed DB pensions need them. That might reverse what the Globe recently described as their "long slow death".

5 comments:

Traciatim said...

1. Forcing me to put money in a poor performing fund doesn't seem like success to me. I do like the NDP proposal of a voluntary extra . . . but forced, I'm not sold (Which they also proposed)

2. How many people are maxing their TFSA?

3. Even if they are a real return at 0.65% is it really going to help? How about just being comparable to savings accounts?

CanadianInvestor said...

Traciatim, why would you say the CPP, especially the investment side, is performing poorly? seems to me to be doing quite well based on most recent annual report http://www.cppib.ca/News_Room/News_Releases/nr_05201001.html

ghostryder said...

Please tell me this is an April fools joke.

CanadianInvestor said...

no ghostr, it's serious. am interested to know what fails your sanity test. I always like a constructive discussion.

Zap Rowsdower said...

Lately I have been reading information on other sites where people are talking about reforming the canadian pension plan. If that is the case, how will I be affected? Of course I want to make sure that I'm putting my money in a good pension plan.

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