Members > FAQ > Membership

FAQ - Membership

Can I choose when to join the CAAT Plan?

Once you become a Full-time Employee at one of the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology of Ontario, you immediately become a Member of the CAAT Pension Plan.

If you are an Other than Regular Full-Time Employee, you must complete a waiting period of 24 months before joining the Plan. At this point, you may choose to join or not, however once you have joined the Plan, you must remain a Member until you leave your employment at a College, retire or die.

Can I make additional contributions to the CAAT Plan through payroll deductions?

The Plan does not permit additional voluntary contributions. If you wish to increase your Pensionable Service and therefore your future pension, you can check to see if you have, during the course of your membership in the Plan, eligible periods of service that you can puchase as a buyback. To increase your future total retirement income, you can also consider investment vehicles such as RRSP's or other investment options.

What does it mean to be Vested?

Being Vested means that, if you were to terminate your employment or retire, you would be eligible to receive a pension. In the CAAT Plan, you are Vested once you have completed 2 years of Plan Membership or Pensionable Service. You are also immediately Vested when you turn 65. If you leave the Plan before you are Vested, you will not be entitled to collect a pension; you will instead receive a refund of your contributions, plus interest.

I recently received my annual pension statement from the CAAT Plan. What is the importance of this document?

Your Member's Annual Pension Statement provides you with specific information about your status as a Plan Member. The information on your statement is based on the previous year and is supplied to us by your Employer. Your Statement provides a summary of the contributions you have made and a calculation of your pension as of the previous year.

Using your statement, you can begin to effectively plan your retirement by seeing the pension you have already earned in the CAAT Plan and your possible retirement age. You can use the statement to help you make decisions regarding your other retirement savings vehicles, such as RRSPs or personal savings. It is important, therefore, to retain your annual statements as you would your investment or banking reports. We suggest you note the location of your statement on your Information Resource Locator so that your Spouse or Beneficiaries will also have access to these important records.

When you receive your statement, remember to review it carefully and report any errors or omissions to your College. This will allow us to maintain current, accurate data in our files and will help us process your pension promptly when you retire.

January 2006

FAQ - Membership

FAQs

Membership

Member Service

Can I choose when to join the CAAT Plan?

Can I make additional contributions to the CAAT Plan through payroll deductions?

What does it mean to be Vested?

I recently received my annual pension statement from the CAAT Plan. What is the importance of this document?