Retirement: Bank of Canada’s Rate Cut and It’s Implications On Bond Yields & Your Pension

Do you have a defined benefit pension?

Daydreamingabout your retirement day somewhere down the line?

You might want to move it up.

With the Bank of Canada’s recent rate cut in response to the economic impact of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), your commuted value is at its highest value ever. That means that if you were thinking of taking early retirement and choosing to take your pension in a lump sum, now’s the time.

Key to determining your commuted value is what’s called the ten-year bond rate. Thanks to the Bank of Canada rate cut, the ten-year yield now hovers around or below 1%. In other words, the bond yields just fell off a cliff.

Why does this matter? It all has to do with the advantageof commuted value.

Whatis “commuted value”, anyway? The short answer is that it’s the lump sum of yourcompany pension.

Whenyou retire, you’ll be given three options: a company pension, a copycatannuity, or a commuted value. If you choose the “commuted value” option, yourcompany actuary will compute its value based on factors such as your age,pension income, and gender, but the biggest factor in determining how muchyou’ll get are current interest rates: specifically, the bond yield.

Askyourself, if you could take your entire pension over 30 years into a singlelump sum payment. How much would you get if you retired right now? That’s yourcommuted value, and if you were to hand in your notice today, the low bondyields (i.e. the rate of return) requires that your company give you a largeramount of cash. 

Thinkof it like a teeter-totter: one side goes down; one side goes up. Bond yieldsgo down, commuted value goes up. Right now, the yield side of thatteeter-totter is the lowest ever. Do you really want to wait?

Ifyou’re unsure that taking the commuted value option is for you, consider thelifestyle that you want to have, because there are some drawbacks that mightnot work for you. For example, if you take everything in a lump sum, you’llhave cash to spend, and you might be tempted to let the good times roll. If youspend the money on cars, a cottage, your kids, your grandkids, etc., before youknow it, you won’t have a pension anymore. Indeed, the main problem with thecommuted value could very well be you. 

Secondly,everyone who chooses the commuted value inevitably encounters the maximumtransfer value (MTV). This will shave off a large amount of your lump sum moneyin taxes. However, at the current interest rates, your commuted value will beso high that it will pay some of that income tax.

Everyone daydreams about earlyretirement. Now is one of the best times that you can start collecting yourpension.

Contact the team at Pension Solutions Canada by calling 1-888-554-6661. We will analyze your commuted value and show you what after tax income stream you can get if you retire today!