Author: vciwork

April 3, 2020

Investment returns are particularly important in ensuring funding of benefits under the Plan. The investment markets can be very challenging due to the ever-changing economic and political factors that can affect investment markets globally. These challenges can result in extreme volatility over short periods of time. The key for long-term investors, such as PSPP Corporation, is to focus on prudent and diversified investments that will provide the returns necessary to meet the funding requirements of the Plan over a long-term period.

There has been an extreme decline in global investment markets arising from the global outbreak of the COVID-19 virus that has affected all investors including PSPP Corporation. However, the Plan fund is secure for the long term. The Plan fund is well diversified in various asset classes and invested globally, for the long term, in accordance with prudent investment policies and guidelines approved by the PSPP Corporation Board of Directors. While the Plan fund has suffered some losses in the short term, it is well positioned to meet the long-term return objectives to ensure plan benefits are funded in compliance with the legislated funding structure.

Our principal objective is to secure the PSPP pension of Plan members. PSPP Corporation is carefully monitoring the investment performance of our exclusive investment manager, AIMCo, and is working with AIMCo to prudently manage the fund, on your behalf.

March 24, 2020

With COVID-19 continuing to impact the lives of everyone, it’s understandable that you may be concerned about how it affects your pension. Rest assured that PSPP Corporation continues to closely monitor the situation and has been working with its pension administration service provider, Alberta Pensions Services Corporation (APS), to ensure essential operations continue and its investment manager, Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), to review the market impact and investment strategy.

PSPP is a Defined Benefit Pension Plan which means that your benefit is calculated based on a formula that includes your pensionable salary and years of service. Your pension is not affected by how much you contribute to the plan or by stock market fluctuations and economic downturns. That’s the benefit of a Defined Benefit Pension Plan! Whether you’re currently contributing to the plan, or retired and receiving a pension, your PSPP pension is secure.

Learn more about the Value of Your Pension, How Your Pension is Calculated and the circumstances under which your pension amount may change.

Effective March 19, 2020, the Alberta Pensions Services Corporation (APS) building is closed to the public until further notice.

The Member Services Centre remains open for telephone calls during regular business hours.
Please contact us by telephone or email. You can also use mypensionplan to update your personal information and submit electronic documents through a secure mailbox.

March 18, 2020

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, all in-person and group sessions are being postponed until further notice. Anyone who booked a spring session at any of our Alberta locations will be contacted and given the opportunity to reschedule to a telephone session. We are also looking at adding online options for the near future.

We are committed to ensuring pensioners receive their monthly pension benefits cheque and that our plan members have access to the pension benefits information they need, when they need it. Your safety, as well as that of our staff members and the community at large is of utmost importance.

Our member services centre remains open for calls and we encourage PSPP members and pensioners to log into mypensionplan to update their personal and beneficiary information. There, you can also access a secure mailbox to communicate with member services centre staff.

In-person sessions will resume when it is safe for everyone.

March 18, 2020

We are closely monitoring the situation surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) and its potential impact to our operations and services to plan members. During this uncertain time, PSPP remains committed to providing pension benefits administration to its members at all stages of their lives. We are working closely with our pension administration and investment management service providers, Alberta Pensions Services Corporation (APS) and Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), to ensure their operations continue to run as seamlessly as possible while following the recommendations of Canadian health authorities.

At this time, we do not anticipate a significant interruption to regular business operations.

Our goal is for pensioners to receive their monthly payments on time, every time. If you are still receiving a physical cheque in the mail, please log into mypensionplan and sign up for direct deposit. This allows you to have immediate access to your payment and eliminates the need for you to leave the comfort of your home.

Our priority is to ensure the health and well-being of staff, plan members and pensioners, and the community. APS will continue to be available to plan members and participating employers to respond to inquiries, process applications, and calculate and disburse benefits. However, to ensure your health and that of the benefits administration staff, the APS building is closed to the public effective Thursday, March 19, and all in-person group or one-on-one information sessions have been cancelled. APS is in the process of rescheduling those sessions and conducting them over the phone or via webinar.

During the closure, we strongly encourage members to call our member services centre or access mypensionplan where you can use the secure mailbox feature to ask questions, share important information with our member services team, or update your personal information.

If you need to drop off an application form or other pension documents, please mail in these documents or place them in the secure drop box located outside of APS’s front entrance. Documents are collected from the secure drop box regularly.

Further updates will be provided as information becomes available. Thank you for your understanding during this time.

March 18, 2020

PSPP Corporation is pleased to present the March 2020 PSPP Report to Members.

In this issue:

• Q&A with our Chair
• A look back at 2019
• Special projects in 2020
• From a member’s perspective: featuring Wesley Glebe, Government of Alberta
• Ready, Set, Retire–Part 4

… and more!

The PSPP Report to Members is an online-only publication. To ensure you receive email notification regarding future issues, please log in to mypensionplan.ca and sign up to “Go Green”.

Updated March 2, 2020

If you are thinking about retiring or simply want to learn more about your pension options, one-on-one sessions are a great opportunity to speak with an information specialist who understands PSPP.

Half hour one-on-one sessions are available across Alberta on the following dates.

The dates crossed out are now fully booked. Check back often as dates may reopen if there are cancellations.

You can register by logging into mypensionplan.ca and clicking “Book a one-on-one information session with us!” or by calling the Member Services Centre at 1-877-453-1PSP (1777).

These sessions are PSPP-specific. Please note that we do not offer any financial planning or advice, or information related to Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security or your other employment benefits.

Preparing for a one-on-one session

You must bring photo identification and a pension estimate with you to the session. The pension estimate you bring should be no older than six months so that we have the most recent details about your pension history and your pension options on hand. To get an updated estimate, log on to mypensionplan.ca, click on Pensions in the menu bar, and select “Pension Projection Calculator”.

Additional one-on-one session dates will be scheduled for fall 2020.

*If you’re located in the Edmonton area, half-hour sessions are available at our south side office year-round during regular business hours. You can make an appointment by calling us at 1-877-453-1PSP (1777).

Visit our Information Session page for more details.

February 12, 2020

The Government of Alberta introduced important changes to the governance of PSPP through Bill 22: Reform of Agencies, Boards and Commissions and Government Enterprise Act, 2019 which became law on November 22, 2019. This legislation also changes the way commuted value and excess contributions will be calculated as of April 1, 2020. These changes do not impact your retirement benefit.

Members and employers will continue to contribute equally to the Plan. There are no changes to 2020 contribution rates for either members or employers.

Commuted Value

The PSPP provides a lifetime pension when you retire. If you leave your PSPP employer before you are eligible to retire, you can leave your accrued benefit in the Plan and receive a secure lifetime pension once you are eligible. You also have the option of transferring the commuted value of your pension into a Locked-In Retirement Account.

A commuted value, often referred to as a CV, is the present lump-sum value of your future lifetime pension. It is the amount of money that would need to be invested today in order to pay for your pension in the future. The lump-sum is calculated by estimating the value of your future pension using standard assumptions for unknown factors such as how long you may live, future interest rates and inflation.

The assumptions that are currently required to be used for the calculation of a CV are set by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and relate to bond yields and interest rates. Pursuant to the legislation passed by the Government of Alberta, beginning April 1, 2020, the funding assumptions used for the valuation and funding of the Plan must be used for the calculation of a CV. This change will align CV calculations with the funding valuation of the Plan.

Excess Contributions

PSPP is a defined benefit pension plan. This means that your pension is based on a set formula for pension payments and not how much you have paid into the Plan. The pension formula takes into account your pensionable salary and years of service, so the longer you contribute to the Plan and the higher your salary, the larger your pension will be.

Although your pension is not based on the amount of contributions you or your employer paid to the Plan, when you retire or terminate from the Plan, your accumulated contributions with interest are compared with the CV of your pension. Currently, if a member’s contributions with interest exceed half of the value of the pension, the excess contributions are refunded as a taxable benefit. As legislated by the Government of Alberta, beginning April 1, 2020, if a member’s contributions with interest exceed the value of the pension, the excess contributions with interest are refunded as a taxable benefit.

Learn more about your options when you Leave the Plan, or are Ready to Retire.

Tax slips for 2019 will be mailed out the last two weeks of February 2020. Please go online to mypensionplan.ca to confirm that we have your correct mailing address. You can view and print your tax slips online at mypensionplan.ca starting Feb. 2, 2020.

You can also change the amount of tax deducted from your pension in 2020 by updating your TD1 information on mypensionplan.

our pension is payable on the second-last banking day of the month, except in December. In December, the pension is paid before December 25.

If you receive your pension payments by cheque, your cheque will be mailed on the dates shown in the list below. Consider setting up direct deposit of your pension to your Canadian bank account. To do this, submit a Request for Direct Deposit form or void cheque through the Secure Mailbox on mypensionplan.ca, or by mail or fax.

The following are the 2020 payment dates for pensioners:

• January 30
• February 27
• March 30
• April 29
• May 28
• June 29
• July 30
• August 28
• September 29
• October 29
• November 27
• December 23

Tax slips are issued for each calendar year and will be mailed by the end of February for the previous year.

If you do not receive your pension, contact APS, PSPP’s administrator.