News Releases
BMO Financial Group today announced the establishment of a unique national study institute to provide Canadian Boomers with crucial research on trends that will have a direct impact on their retirement.
The BMO Retirement Institute (The Institute) will focus on issues impacting boomers approaching retirement; distilling the best of publicly available, world-class research; and will articulate concepts for retirement living and retirement planning, which boomers can put into action. As an example, the Institute will analyze issues such as care-giving, managing health, and the challenges of living retirement as a single person.
The Institute was developed under the guidance of BMO's Advisory Council on Retirement, a panel of distinguished Canadians representing various fields of relevant expertise and experience. The council was convened in 2006 to bring a new perspective to retirement and find new avenues of communication with baby boomers.
“BMO has made it a priority to convey to Canadians that the nature of retirement has changed,” said Mel Cappe, Chairman of the BMO Advisory Council on Retirement. “New information about planning for and living in retirement regularly emerges from Canada's academic centres, much of it extremely relevant for how retirees and pre-retirees plan for this phase of their life. Providing access to this research will encourage boomers to think more broadly about how they prepare for retirement.”
As part of its mandate, The Institute is launching a series of brief reports called Connecting Insights that will help Canadians become more familiar with some of the more complex issues associated with retirement. The Institute's first report, “Assuming More Responsibility for Retirement,” provides an introduction to the changing nature of retirement, highlighting recent shifts in pension plan trends and the importance of ensuring retirees have enough money to last them through what has become a lengthier life stage. The report also examines the prospect of future retirees having to shoulder more of the financial responsibility for their retirement than previous generations. It also explores the important retirement decisions boomers will face and offers information on the efficacy of some of today's financial planning products.
“As boomers head closer to retirement, it's important for them to develop a concrete plan to manage their savings and investments carefully during retirement," says Kris Vikmanis, Head of Retirement Market, BMO Financial Group. “Accumulation and saving is the first part of the retirement planning equation -- it's equally important to understand your expenses in retirement, in order to structure your resources to generate the appropriate cash flow.”
For more information about the BMO Retirement Institute: Connecting Insights, consumers can visit www.bmo.com/retirementyourway.
Members of the academic community interested in learning more about the BMO Retirement Institute: Connecting Insights can contact: Julie A. Sullivan at juliea.sullivan@bmo.com.
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