Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, Toronto, is set to debut a podcast in September called "The Pension Blueprint," which will provide expert pension education, according to the firm's website.
The podcasts will be hosted by Jackie DeSouza, vice president of employer relations and communications at the C$124.2 billion ($94.1 billion) fund, and Christopher Hayle, pension education lead, and will offer advice on topics such as when is the best time to retire and how to maximize one's monthly retirement income.
Guests on the docket include Blake Hutcheson, OMERS' president and CEO, discussing the current investment climate; and Rob Carrick, personal finance columnist at The Globe and Mail newspaper, offering money-saving tips for young people, said Celine Chiovitti, OMERS' executive vice president and head of pensions in an email. The podcast was created for the 600,000 OMERS members in Ontario, especially to help millennials and Gen Z members learn about their pension and prepare for retirement, she noted.
"Some of the podcast topics that members might find interesting include: how big life changes — leaving a job, taking a parental leave or going through a divorce — can affect a member's pension," she said.
The podcast aims to give members a new medium to access pension education and to explore "buzzworthy topics around pensions and retirement that members have told us that they'd be interested in learning more about," she added.
Ms. Chiovitti said she was not aware of any other Canadian pension plans that have launched podcasts targeted to their members. However, she noted that the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, an independent regulatory agency that operates to improve customer and pension plan beneficiary protections in Ontario, launched a four-episode podcast called "Pension Savvy" earlier in 2023.
OMERS members and the public can listen and watch the podcast when it goes live on omers.com/the-pension-blueprint, or on YouTube, Vimeo or Spotify.
