Essential Skills For Pension Committee Members November 12, 13 & 14, 2008 Toronto

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Conference Agenda

Session 3:

9:00-9:45 - Retirement Income Planning Considerations For Employees With A DC Pension Plan
Barry Noble, Vice President, Group Pension Distribution, Manulife Financial

Many trustees, pension committee members, plan managers and plan members have little or no idea of what constitutes an adequate retirement income. Without this information, decisions are often made in a vacuum. This presentation will explore how to effectively address these challenges in order to assist employees in formulating retirement planning goals, using their pension plan as a complement to personal savings.

-Defining adequate retirement income
-Setting a retirement goal
-Role of personal savings
-How much contribution is required each year?
-Effect of investment choice on savings levels


9:45-10:30 - Pension Funding: Practical Tools To Reduce Risk Of Shortfall
Charlie Eigl, Vice-President Finance, OPSEU Pension Trust

In keeping with the recent and ongoing discussions about the pension funding “crisis”, particularly in the wake of the challenges some high-profile plan sponsors have in meeting their pension obligations, this discussion will provide a primer on the relationship between funding and plan design and explore the financial tools used to manage a plan's surplus position. Pension committee members and trustees will also learn additional tools to help sustain the funded status of a defined benefit pension plan.

· Volatility mitigation tools
· Asset smoothing
· Issues in asset liability matching and use of liability discount rates
· Managing surplus
· Transient versus permanent gains
· Margins of conservatism versus surplus
· The costs and benefits of retained surplus
· The OPTrust experience
· Risk sharing
· Contribution stabilization funds
· Pulling it all together: the funding policy


10:30-11:00 NETWORKING BREAK

11:00-11:45 - DC Issues for Pension Committees
Randy Colwell, Regional Vice President, Group Retirement Services, Sun Life Financial

If you are a member of a pension committee of a defined contribution pension plan (or other CAP arrangement) you will need to consider the plan from several different perspectives at the same time. Pension committee members need to examine, at the appropriate level of detail, how plan participants actually make use of the DC plan, including such elements as investment behaviour, contribution levels and how participants access plan information. They also need to consider the implications of providing access to investment advice and financial planning services. This presentation will examine the unique issues involved with DC plans.

? Participant investment behaviour
? Investment advice for plan participants
? Investment options (active management, index funds, target date funds, target risk, customized vs. "off the shelf")
? Retirement income issues: projections, calculators, plan design
? Benchmarking key aspects of your plan administration as a continuous improvement process


11:45-12:30 - Pension Reform
Andrea Boctor, Stikeman Elliott LLP

Recently, the governments of Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Nova Scotia established expert commissions to examine their pension standards legislation. Although the scope of each commission is slightly different, all of the commissions are tasked with looking at issues relating to the security, viability and sustainability of the private pension system. It is expected that these commissions will issue reports in Fall 2008. This session will look at the recommendations in the various commissions' reports and how they might affect the private pension system in Canada.

-Latest developments in pension reform
-What new reforms are expected from the Arthurs Commission Report?
-Current pension reform initiatives in Ontario


12:30-1:30 Lunch