Members > Member Handbook > Retiring > Normal Retirement Pension

Normal Retirement Pension

Retirement

Normal Retirement Date

Your Normal Retirement Date is the last day of the month in which you turn 65. Your monthly retirement pension is payable for your lifetime on the first business day of each month following your retirement date. If the Plan receives your completed paperwork six business days before the end of the month in which you retire, you will receive your first payment on the first business day of the following month. Otherwise, your pension will start on the first business day of the next month, and will include any retroactive payment.

Check with your College to see when you should apply for Normal Retirement. In most cases, your College will notify the Plan by submitting a form with your service and earnings history. You will then receive an Option Document that lists and explains your choices regarding your benefit.

Pensionable Service

Pensionable Service is the total years and months of service during which you contributed to the Plan. It includes any service you may have purchased or transferred in, and service during which you received a Long Term Disability benefit or a full loss of earnings benefit under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act. It does not include any previous CAAT Plan Pensionable Service for which you received a contribution refund.

The months in which you start and stop contributing to the Plan each count as a full month regardless of how many days you contributed. For all leaves of absence after January 1, 1998, the part months that you work at the start and end of an unpaid leave also count. See your Member's Annual Pension Statement for a breakdown of your Pensionable Service.

Pension Formula

Your Normal Retirement Pension is calculated using the following formula:

1.3%	x	Highest Average Pensionable Earnings up to the average YMPE	x	Pensionable Service
plus
2.0%	x	Highest Average Pensionable Earnings above the average YMPE	x	Pensionable Service

YMPE: Year's Maximum Pensionable Earnings - the maximum amount of earnings on which you are required to contribute to the Canada Pension Plan.

Average YMPE: the average of the YMPE for the year you retire, and the four previous years.

Highest Average Pensionable Earnings: the sum of your earnings over the 60 consecutive months of Pensionable Service during which your earnings were their highest, divided by 60 and multiplied by 12. Some payments, such as overtime, are not included. If you have been a Member for less than 5 years, we use your actual earnings and service to create the average.

January 2008