Aon Consulting urges long-term planning for RRSPs

Leading retirement and investment consultant shares thoughts for plan participants and RRSP contributors

MONTREAL , Feb. 8 /CNW/ - "Get help and plan!" was the resounding note from Tony Ioanna, Vice President, Retirement & Pensions, practicing out of the firm's Montreal office, when asked about his thoughts on the upcoming RRSP and income tax season.

"Not only should people seek advice to determine their risk tolerance and on how to invest their contributions, but more importantly, on how much they need to contribute today to be on-track with reaching their retirement goals tomorrow."

Planning for RRSP contributions is a discipline that must be exercised regularly and systematically. Because the tendency is to underestimate the value of the contribution one makes today, it can be easy to lose sight of the long-term objectives that require constant management throughout the course of one's retirement plans.

Getting good advice on retirement planning is key, since most people do not have a formally written financial plan and are not in a position to have a reliable measure of where they are on their path to retirement.

"It's interesting that most people have no idea of how much income they will have at retirement, and yet continue to dream about how much they would like to have!" Ioanna notes, "People make annual RRSP contributions in order to get the tax break and may, unfortunately, put as much thought into the decision as those who must pay their minimum monthly credit card payment."

Helpful Tips

    
    - You can not expect to spend most of what you earn today without
      contributing to your RRSP and still be in a position to save enough
      money to last throughout your retirement.

    - Avoid the common error of relying on the markets to make-up the
      shortfall between contributions and what is needed for a comfortable
      retirement.

    - As early as possible evaluate the possible retirement income your
      current savings habit will be able to provide. Not satisfied with the
      conclusion? Do something.

    - Consider RRSP contributions as part of your regular budget (monthly
      bank account withdrawal or Group RRSP contribution) instead of
      considering it as an important expense once a year at RRSP season.
    

Aon Consulting Canada's Retirement and Investment practice has been navigating the many legal, financial and social complexities of designing and administering retirement plans for more than 60 years. The practice focuses on Financial Risk Consulting, Defined Contribution, Financial Planning and Investment Consulting. The firm's retirement and investment consultants help quantify costs and risks with multi-year projections of plan financials and provide comprehensive advice and solutions to help manage the financials through plan design, plan right-sizing and investment/hedging policy, including immunization and termination.

About Aon Consulting Canada

Aon Consulting is one of Canada's leading integrated human capital consulting and outsourcing firms. Fueled by the ideas and best practices of 36,000 colleagues in 120 countries, our 800+ Canadian professionals in 12 offices coast-to-coast offer benefits, talent management and rewards strategies and solutions to help clients attract, retain and develop world-class talent. Driven by inspired and independent thinking, Aon Consulting is committed to delivering innovative and personalized business solutions with tangible value to help clients shape their organization into the workplace of the future. For more information, visit http://aon.ca.

About Aon Consulting

Aon Consulting is among the top global human capital consulting firms, with 2008 revenues of $1.358 billion and more than 6,300 professionals in 229 offices worldwide. Aon Consulting works with organizations to improve business performance and shape the workplace of the future through employee benefits, talent management and rewards strategies and solutions. Aon Consulting was named the best employee benefit consulting firm by the readers of Business Insurance magazine in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. For more information on Aon, please visit www.aon.mediaroom.com.

About Aon

Aon Corporation (NYSE:AOC) is the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human capital consulting. Through its more than 37,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon readily delivers distinctive client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Aon's industry-leading global resources and technical expertise are delivered locally through more than 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Named the world's best broker by Euromoney magazine's 2008 and 2009 Insurance Survey, Aon also ranked highest on Business Insurance's listing of the world's largest insurance brokers based on commercial retail, wholesale, reinsurance and personal lines brokerage revenues in 2008. A.M. Best deemed Aon the number one insurance broker based on brokerage revenues in 2007 and 2008, and Aon was voted best insurance intermediary, best reinsurance intermediary and best employee benefits consulting firm in 2007, 2008 and 2009 by the readers of Business Insurance. For more information on Aon, log onto http://www.aon.com.

For further information: Media Contact: Autom Tagsa, [phone], [email protected]