Pension Pulse

Barbara Shecter of the National Post reports Canada Pension Plan investing board posts 1.3% return for year: The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board posted a net return of 1.3 per cent for the fiscal year ended March 31, ending the year with net fund assets of $570 billion compared to $539 billion a year earlier. The CPP fund has a 10-year net return of 10 per cent. The $31 billion increase in net assets this year consisted of $8 billion in net income and $23 billion in net transfers from the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). Net CPP cash flows in fiscal 2023 were higher than usual due to higher employment rates , an increased limit to the year’s maximum pensionable earnings, an increase to additional CPP contribution inflows and a lump-sum inflow in the fourth quarter due to forecasting adjustments made by the CPP. Since its inception in 1999, CPPIB has contributed $386 billion in cumulative net income to the fund. “Our strong long-term return of 10 per cent over 10 years ...

John Stepek of Bloomberg reports be afraid, the UK government wants your pension: The battle for your pension is hotting up. Politicians including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and his Labour counterpart Rachel Reeves want to funnel more of Britain’s (ie your) pension savings into funding UK companies.  The level of coercion involved varies according to the politician or lobbyist speaking and the audience to whom they are talking. But as both Merryn and Stuart have flagged in separate columns, the government and the City see your savings as their opportunity. Here are the links to those columns, by the way. Stuart —  Making Britain Great Again Risks a Disaster for Pensions  Merryn —  Should the Government Get to Spend Your Pension Savings? You should read them both, but as the headlines might suggest, neither of my very smart colleagues is overly enthusiastic about this idea. And — spoiler alert! — neither am I. There’s a l...