Live Small: Many boomers missed the class re CPP in high school

“Two in every three Canadians nearing retirement think Canada’s pension system (CPP) is flawed,” stated a recent article found in the London Free Press (Feb. 27).

However, the more of the article I read, the more I realized something else is flawed - and not the CPP primarily.

Okay, you should know this:

"The latest TNS Canadian Facts survey showed that 67% of people over the age of 50 don’t think the current pension system meets their retirement needs very well."

But, does that mean it’s flawed?

And also, because “nearly half of respondents aren’t confident that their combined Canada Pension Plan and Registered Retirement Savings Plans will provide enough cash flow to live out their golden years comfortably” doesn’t mean the CPP is flawed.

When I read the following, i.e., “the CPP was designed to replace only about 25% of average pre-retirement salaries for low-income earners and even less for middle and high-income earners,” I immediately felt something else was wrong - and part of the problem might be me.

For example, maybe I wasn’t listening when my Gr. 13 math teacher threw the above information out for a complete discussion.


["What do ya mean I'm busted?"]

I’m sure I would have grasped the concept that, if I got used to living on $100,000 per year and the CPP would only replace $25,000 of that income once I retired, I’d need to save a whack of money to make up the diff.

(Yes, we said ‘diff’ in the sixties. We were pretty keen about our own neato way of talkin’).

Or maybe the problem is that the topic of planning for the future was never presented at all in schools to the masses of people who now look forward to a shaky retirement.

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Should governments consider more high school courses related to financial matters?

Would the curriculum get too crowded now that Gr. 13 is gone?

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