Hi, my name is Angie, pension specialist here at Teachers and joining me today are my colleague Stephane and Zeina.
This session is for those of you who've made that decision to retire or are really close to it.
Since the day you started teaching the pension plan got to work for you building a benefit for your retirement.
So Angie tonight we are going to talk about some decisions
You need to make leading up to your retirement and to make sure that you're ready.
If you have any questions along the way,
please post them below or via messenger where Zeina will tell us the questions.
We will do our best to answer them today. If not, we promise to post the answer very soon.
So let's jump right in. Excellent idea. So Stephane, you know what, our members often share with us
that the hardest part of this process is deciding actually when to retire.
Now we know it's a matter of finances,
But we also know it's a matter of heart being ready to make such a huge decision in your life.
Now by this point you've already made that decision or you're just about to.
And you've done this by doing your research. You've gone online to our online service,
You've checked your 85 factor date checked it once, probably checked it several times, okay?
You've used the online pension calculator to come up with various pension scenarios,
and finally one day it clicks, it all makes sense, you've settled on a date.
Angie, why don't we take a look on the online pension calculator together?
I just want to point out a few things, is that if you're already familiar with this
You'll actually probably know the information
But if you look at the top, you'll have a date there on the scenario that is actually pre-populated for you,
and the date that you'll find there is your 85 factor.
You'll also find your annual pension, your monthly pension, the gross, the net. You will also find the
reductions that are applied to your pension and often those reductions are the
percentage of the survivor pension, or the ten year guarantee so basically your survivor benefits
Exactly, so you know what, speaking of survivor benefits,
Stephane, let's talk about how your loved ones would be taken care if you were to pass away after you've retired.
So, the first thing we're gonna do, is we're going to take a bit take a look at our post retirement survivor benefits eligibility chart.
So, first in line from any and all survivor benefits,
is always a surviving spouse. So a surviving spouse is someone that you're married to,
or living together for common-law, three or more years, same or the opposite sex.
Next in line for any and all survivor benefits would be eligible children. Eligible children are those under the age of 18, under
25 and in full-time education, or if you have a child with a severe or prolonged disability,
there may be an adult child disability out child benefit for them. Now if this resonates
with you in any way shape or form, we want you to call the pension plan,
we can give you some peace of mind about the retirement benefits available for that child.
Finally, if there are if there's no surviving spouse, and no eligible children,
if there's any money left to be paid, they would be paid to your estate as a lump sum.
So Angie, I know that there are two types of survivor benefits to consider:
the 10-year guarantee and the spousal pension.
I want to mention about the 10-year guarantee. So, I want to bring you up this
example where you see a member started their pension and they've been on pension for five years, right?
They pass away after five years of pension,
so basically that 10-year guarantee that we talked about would cover the five remaining years
to make it all of ten full years, and during those five remaining years, a hundred percent of the pension
of the deceased member would be paid to survivor minus the CPP reduction. only after the ten years
Only after the ten years, then we would get into the survivor percentage.
So, can you tell us much the 10 year guarantee costs?
Well you know what Stephane, if you don't have a spouse on file at the time of your first pension payment,
there's no cost for it. In fact. You're automatically enrolled into this 10-year guarantee program.
But if you do have a spouse on file, there is a nominal fee.
It typically ranges somewhere in and around forty to sixty dollars per year.
That's forty to sixty per year, and this option is something that you elect,
when you apply for your pension. So we strongly encourage to select this benefit
because potentially it could be a very large benefit payable to either your surviving spouse
or maybe even to your estate. That's right now this option only applies to
Sorry, go ahead Stephane.
Okay, so now that we've talked about the ten year guarantee, let's jump and talk about the
or let us tell more about the spousal percentage.
That's right, so you know what, the spousal survivor option is something
That's available for people who only have an eligible spouse on file at the time of the first pension payment
So let's do a quick recap. What is just what is an eligible spouse?
That's someone you're married to or married for or together with them common-law three years or more,
same or opposite sex. So, here's how it works: under the Ontario pension benefits act,
my spouse is automatically entitled to a 60% survivor pension if you were to pass away, okay?
So what that means is that with a cost to your pension, a reduction to your pension,
you can provide a 60% survivor pension upon your death.
This reduction to your pension is permanent even if your spouse dies before you do.
Okay, but you and your spouse have other options to keep in mind. You can go with a 50% survivor pension,
there's no cost to provide that. You can go with 65, 70 or 75 percent on the higher end.
But there is a cost for those options as well. There is a permanent reduction to that pension for 60 and onwards
even if your spouse dies before you as we mentioned earlier.
So I would like to say the higher the percentage, the higher the cost.
So, what would someone need to consider when deciding on their spousal percentage?
So there are two key things you want to keep in mind when you're selecting a survivor percentage.
The first thing is, is your spouse's financial dependency on your pension.
The second thing to keep in mind, is health and that's not just your health, it's also the health of your spouse.
Now, why would someone go with a no-cost 50% survivor pension?
If your spouse is financially stable they have their own income and they don't need as much support from you.
Now, the health of your spouse's something also to consider.
Sometimes, we know that our spouse is not well or
maybe they're older than us and will likely not outlive us and therefore collect that survivor pension.
So why experience a permanent reduction to your pension in a case like that?
The final reason why somebody would actually not take a higher survivor option and go with something like a 50%
is the cost of that survivor pension is too high compared to the value of the pension
So, let me add that if you are choosing a 50%, a waiver of joint and survivor form needs to be completed,
which means signed by you and your spouse with a witness.
And needs to be sent to us at the earliest 12 months prior to the beginning of your pension,
so it is something that you can wait towards the end when you're preparing all your documents to complete
and send to us if want to elect the 50% right?
Yes. So on the other hand, why would someone go with the 75% Angie?
So someone may go with the higher end of the survivor percentage scale because maybe their spouse is not
financially stable on their own and they would depend on you and your pension
as a key source of their financial income if you were to pass away.
That's one key reason. Another key reason is your health okay?
Sometimes that we know that we are not well, and more than likely our spouse is going to outlive us
perhaps your spouse is significantly younger, and the odds are they are going to outlive you
and collect that survivor pension. So this is why it might be worthwhile to consider a higher cost short term
in order to insure your loved ones are taken care of over the long term.
So we talked about this percentage, fifty to seventy-five percent.
However the costs for those percentages are different for everyone .
So I want to point out here that when you go to the pension calculator,
and you look at the details that you see there.
You'll see that when you look at the survivor pension in the seventy five percent or whatever survivor
pension that you have there, if you click on this audit because you'll see that it's blue,
basically, what will appear is a table in which you'll be able to find
what is the cost of the deduction for you, as well as what kind of pension what your spouse would receive
depending on the percentage that you select.
So it's really important that you consult this before you actually start your pension,
so that you know that the decision that you're making is actually well-informed.
Yeah, and you can make your election for both the ten year pension guarantee,
and the survivor percentage via the online pension application.
This is a very important thing to point out. The survivor options that you choose cannot be changed
once your pension begins. So another reason to keep in mind that
the decisions that you make are set in stone and cannot be changed after the fact.
Is this it for the survivor benefits then?
Actually. Hi Zeina. Hi. I'm still here. So, you guys did a great job talking about the available survivor options.
So we do have a question that came in from Roger. And he's asking about
the process that a surviving spouse has to go through to apply for their benefit upon the passing of the member.
Okay well, I'll take that so
Roger, thank you so much for your question.
Should you pass away, your survivor or representative of your survivor should give the pension plan a call.
and what we would do in that phone call is we would guide that person through the process
to start the survivor options available for the survivor. We also are going to post a link below
for a former session that we had: "Planning for Your Loved Ones"
which actually goes into a little bit more detail of how that process would work.
Just a reminder. Actually good point, Zeina.
You know what, reminding everyone that you can post any questions you have below
In the comment section of and of course send them in through messenger.
Okay, so let's now talk about buybacks and transfers. Can you talk more about that, Angie?
Okay so buying back time this is that one of the best times that you should finalize any buybacks and
transferring another opportunity for you to increase the credit on your pension
and that ultimately will improve the value of your pension.
So for buybacks, if you are on a leave of absence within the last five years,
you can check the buyback Center online for those details
now fine back time on a contributions plus interest basis
This is the most cost effective way to improve the value of your pension.
It has a lasting impact on what you'll receive over the rest of your life.
Now let's switch over to transfers. If you have service with another pension plan,
maybe with a major Ontario pension plan like OMERS or OPSEU,
or perhaps you're with another province, teaching in British Columbia and the funds are still there,
there may be an opportunity for you to move that service from their plan to ours.
This will also improve the value of the pension potentially.
But transfers as you and I both know because we process these, these take a long time.
so give us a call, and we can provide you with the guidance you need to move through that situation.
So moving on to two different topics. We often also get questions regarding the medical coverage
and also the gratuity. Can you tell us more about that?
Actually that's a great question Stephane. That actually came through from David as well.
That question is regarding the health and dental benefits.
So anything you can add on that is much appreciated.
Thank you so much for your question David. So OTPP, the pension plan does not provide medical coverage.
But as a courtesy we can deduct the medical premiums from your monthly pension for some insurance carriers.
So what we can do is we can post a link below in the comment section with a list of those carriers and more
information leading you directly to their website, so you can make the right decisions about
what best plan is for you, okay? So Stephane you also mentioned gratuities.
Now gratuity is a benefit that is administered directly by the employer.
So this is another opportunity for you to contact them and to find out what the details
are with respect to the payout. So so far we've talked about the decision
you have to make leading up to retirement, right? So can we switch gear and - not yet!
No switching gears yet! We do have another question before we switch gears
The question is around the age requirement to start a pension.
Is there a specific age on which you can apply for a pension a minimum, a maximum?
Certainly. Angie?
Yes, please I'll take that one, okay.
So you know what, you can start collecting pension as early as the age of 50
You will experience an early retirement reduction for doing so. But, not sure if everyone knows this.
If you're so inclined, you can actually continue to teach or contribute to the pension plan
up until 30th of November the year that you turn 71, or of course any time in-between.
But the most opportune time for you should be selected by using the online pension calculator
figure out what your optimal date is, and then you can make a comfortable decision accordingly.
So can we switch gears now?
So basically again, so, let's look at what members need to do next,
once they've looked at everything that we've explained so far.
So, these next steps are mandatory in order for us to start your pension. So first, here's what we're gonna need for you.
We're going to need a bunch of personal documents
in order to confirm certain parts of information on your file.
So we're gonna need proof of both yours and your spouse's date of birth.
We're going to need a copy of either a birth certificate Canadian passport or your Ontario driver's license.
We're gonna need proof of your marital status, so if you're married,
we're going to need a copy of your marriage certificate, or a statutory declaration of common-law relationship.
Now, you can download that statutory declaration from our website simple and easy to complete.
If your marital status is divorced or separated we're going to require a copy of your divorce certificate
, a copy of your separation agreement, and we encourage you to send the entire version of your separation agreement, okay?
and/or a statutory declaration of your separation.
Again, a form that you can download on our website.
so let me add here Angie that the
easiest and the most secure way to send those this document is by using the document uploader.
This is a feature that you'll find in the document Center. It allows you to upload directly unto our website:
any PDF or JPEG document that you have. So if you scan them and you send it directly to us that way,
this is the fastest way, the most secure, and the easiest way by far to send us those documents.
You know what, if you're not sure what documents you've already sent in
when you go to the document Center, if you see a green check mark by the document it means
you've successfully sent them in in the past . If there's a red X and that's the document that's outstanding and
unless you're planning to divorce your current spouse, you don't have to wait till you're retired you can actually
send those little documents right away. Even before you apply for your pension. That's a very good tip Stephane.
Excellent. Alright so the next two steps are crucial in the retirement process.
We're going to get serious for a second.
So you might want a circle or underline these. Number one:
You must send your letter of retirement or resignation to your employer before your retirement date.
So let me repeat that again.
You should send your letter of retirement or resignation to your employer before your retirement date.
Now we often advise our members to contact their employer to find out
what their deadlines and requirements are to get that specific letter in that's a very important step, okay?
The next step, you must apply for your pension. Your pension does not automatically start
when you reach your eighty-five factor, it's not something that happens.
But if you are super keen you can apply up to four months in advance of starting your pension.
Actually, regarding the application deadline, we did get a few question on that actually from John and Kathleen
wondering about what is the deadline to apply. So you mentioned four months?
Is there a deadline by which you have to apply, otherwise you miss out?
Angie? So you know what four months is if you're super keen, but the happy medium is 2-3 months in advance.
This gives us ample time to process your pension payment. Now, if there is a processing delay,
which is very rare not to worry, you will be paid retroactively plus interest, okay?
Perfect, all right.
So as I continue you can find online pension application under the "Your Pension" tab,
when you're signed into the online service. You know one of the major tabs that we have is "Your Pension"
and we'll take a look at that later on and the pension application button is there.
All you need to do is click on "Apply Now" to start the process and you know what,
it really takes no more than 5 to 10 minutes to apply for your pension.
It's a point-and-click system. It's customized to your specific situation.
It's that simple and this is the time where all those decisions that we talked about earlier
will come into place. All you're gonna need to do is confirm your retirement date
and when you want to start your pension, you'll confirm your survivor options,
you'll add in your banking information. Have it handy, a void check or your banking information
you can add that information safely and securely and it's also one less item for you to send in as well.
Then all you have to do and this is probably the hardest part, is to click that submit button.
Ok now what we're gonna do is we're gonna post a video below and
it's actually gonna walk you through the individual screens
if you need some assistance and guidance along the way. So let me add something
Angie, here is that in order to erase all the urban legends and the myth out there regarding the
resignation date because we do have a lot of questions about that and people are confused often about
what resignation date they should put when they go online and apply for your pension.
It should be June 30th? Should be August 31st?
I'm glad you're addressing that Stephane because we've had a couple of members also ask about that
Jun 30th vs August, Jodie being one of them.
Thank you Jodie. Let me say quickly that when you are a a teacher, you work usually from September to June
and usually have the summer off and here we're talking about somebody in classroom,
not necessarily somebody who's an administrator, it might well twelve months of the year.
But you finish your work at June and usually the employer pays you throughout the summer.
Your resignation should really be June 30th. Why?
Because you do want to get or receive the pension from the Teacher's Pension Plan for those months in July and August.
As well as your pay from your employer to date, it is not illegal.
So you are entitled to those two pension payments as well as your pay. So for anyone again that works
from September to June your resignation date should be June 30th okay?
All right, so after you've bravely hit that submit button we get to work putting your pension into place.
Now, this is the time where we may need to contact your employer
you know, for further information in certain circumstances.
But you should receive a retirement statement within a few weeks of submitting your application.
But remember. we cannot finalize your pension
until we receive all the outstanding documents that we've mentioned earlier. That's right.
Question. I was wondering if you guys are gonna touch on the frequency of payment.
Denise was wondering when is the pension payment made.
Okay so very good question.
Okay, so Denise the pension payments get made last business day of every month.
You can actually sign in to the online service, and we actually have a calendar of the dates that the pension would be deposited.
Thank you great question Denise.
But, for those who are about to hit that submit button and they're waiting for their first pension payment
or information related to that, about a week before your first pension payment is due, it's scheduled,
you're going to mail the deposit advice letting you know the net amount of pension that's going to be deposited into your bank account.
Okay, so Stephane
We've covered quite a bit today.
So let's see if there are any additional questions from our viewers.
Should we go over to Zeina? Absolutely.
All right. We do have a couple of questions.
Well we have a couple that came from Terry and Linda, both were asking about working after retirement.
That seems to be an interesting topic. So are there any rules?
What is it that you can tell us about
going back to work after having started to collect the pension. That sounds like a perfect question for Angie.
Well Stephane, as you know, you can teach up to 50 days in a single school year, okay?
And at this point - you know what, this is after you retire. You can start you can teach up to fifty days in
A single school year. One of the things that members need to keep in mind is you are
responsible for tracking your days the onus is on you to do that and you know we have developed an app,
it's called "Worklog" that you can download and track your days accordingly.
You know you also have to let us know if you go over the limit.
But you know at this point, we recommend that you sign into the online service.
And there's a great section about working in education after employment.
So we strongly advise you to visit that section and you know what if you've got questions,
Before you think you're going to exceed those limits, give us a call, we want to make sure that you understand
you know, what would happen if you go over those limits. And to help you track those days accordingly.
Anything to add? No that was good. Are you up to take one more question?
All right, so can you and you may have touched on this but can you maybe repeat the process to apply for a pension?
How does someone go about it? Can it be done over the phone? Can it be done by completing the form?
Well, the simplest way to apply for your pension is to sign in to the online service and actually since we're here,
click on this button here that says "Apply Now" in under the your pension section, okay
And this is going to actually, as I mentioned before it's going to provide you with an electronic
customized application built on the information that we have about you. So if you have a surviving spouse
currently on file we're going to ask you to review it,
click on those details, and make those decisions and like I said it takes about five to ten minutes to apply and
that's the simplest way to do so.
And there is no more paper application.
That's correct. I think that's all we have for now.
So you know what, Zeina, Stephane,
let's wrap up by quickly taking a look at a very important
one-stop section of the online service.
So when you sign in you click on the section that says "Your Pension",
and this is an excellent place to get all the information that we touched on earlier today.
You can use the pension calculator section here to help you figure out your optimal retirement date.
You can upload your documents in the document center. If you have any leave of absences,
this is the right place to get all the details you need to make the payment and make those decisions, okay?
Survivor benefits was really big topic today. This is an excellent place to get information to help you solidify the decisions you need to make,
Profile: you can update your survivors. You can give us the up-to-date information that we need about your file, your address,
contacts and most importantly, why we're all here today, the pension applications simply click apply now, and we'll do the rest for you.
Okay, so I just want to let everybody know at this time. We're going to be turning off messenger.
I want to thank you all so very much for joining us here today. You've got a lot of homework to do.
Please stay connected with us on Facebook, check out our Pinterest board,
sign in to your online teachers pension account and of course contact us here directly
This is a big decision, and we're always happy to help.
Thank you so much Zeina, and thank you so much Stephane until next time.
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