This feature article is the last of three in a

series on the soon-to-be-launched group

retirement savings plan for OMA members and

their spouses. Since the Advantages Retirement

Plan™ was announced in the July/August issue

of OMR, OMA Insurance has received hundreds

of inquiries. This article offers more details about

the plan’s features and partners, and additional

information can be found on the new and

comprehensive Advantages Retirement Plan™

website at www.omainsurance.com/retire.

Get ready for the Advantages Retirement Plan™

Retire the wayyou want.

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A plan built for the physician communityThe Advantages Retirement Plan™ from OMA Insurance has been a long time coming, and

now we will soon be enrolling OMA members into the first group retirement savings plan in

Canada focused on the needs of physicians. The plan was presented at the OMA Fall 2019

Council meeting, and more than 15% of Council Delegates have signed up for meetings

with OMA Insurance to learn more about the plan’s suitability for them and their spouses/

common-law partners.

Through an easy-to-use online platform with digital tools and educational resources, OMA

members and their spouses can build a foundational level of retirement savings. Regardless

of your age, the Advantages Retirement Plan™ can help you reserve the retirement you

deserve.

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The plan can paint an attractive picture for your retirement

What makes this plan unique from others in the market?

Low investment

management fees

Intelligent, self-serve online platform

Fiduciary duty

Guaranteedlifetime income

Tailor-made approachto generating retirement

income

Flexiblecontributions

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To ensure the Advantages Retirement Plan™ serves the best

interests of physicians, OMA Insurance has put together an

expert-led Investment Committee that includes physician

representation. The Investment Committee reports to the OMA

Insurance Board and has a fiduciary duty with respect to the

selection of investment managers and annuity providers and the

oversight of the plan’s investment program.

Bernard Morency (Chair)

Former Global Retirement Practice Leader for Mercer and public pension fund Executive Vice President

Dr. Paul Healey

Family and emergency physician, and founder of “Physician Financial Independence (Canada)” online community

Dr. Audrey Karlinsky

Family physician and Vice-Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee

Morgan McCague

Former investment executive at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan

PLAN ADMINISTRATOR

To help create and deliver the plan, OMA

Insurance collaborated with Common

Wealth, a mission-driven business that

works with associations, unions, and

employers to provide value-for-money,

collective retirement plans. As plan

administrator, Common Wealth is

responsible for the ecordkeeping and

administration of the Advantages

Retirement Plan™, and is legally required to

act in the best interests of plan members.

ANNUITY PROVIDER

Brookfield Annuity Company was

incorporated in 2016 and has a

sole focus on annuity solutions in

the Canadian market. It achieved

a 5% share of the group annuity

market in both 2017 and 2018, its

first two full years of operations.

Brookfield Annuity is a wholly

owned subsidiary of Brookfield

Asset Management, a global

alternative asset manager that

currently has over $500 billion in

assets under management.

INVESTMENT MANAGER

Founded in 1975 on a simple but

revolutionary idea – that an investment

company should manage the funds it

offers in the sole interest of its clients,

Vanguard is one of the largest asset

managers in the world with more than

$7 trillion in assets under management.

Vanguard serves more than 20 million

investors worldwide.

PLAN SPONSOR

OMA Insurance is sponsoring

and distributing the Advantages

Retirement Plan™ to members

based on its long-standing track

record of creating value for

members through group insurance

programs.

INVESTMENT COMMITTEE

The Investment Committee has selected best-in-class

partners and will monitor them to ensure that they meet

the collective needs of our members.

The experts behind the plan

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We’ve summarized some of

the top questions members

have asked to help you

make an informed decision

about joining the plan.

How much can I contribute to the plan?

Contributions into the Advantages Retirement

Plan™ are flexible and can be adjusted as your

situation changes. When you enroll in the

plan, you can start with as little as $100 per

month and contribute as much as $33,230

per year for individual members and up to

$66,460 per year for couples.1

How much do you save on a monthly basis?

The plan provides a default monthly savings

amount with the option to change, helping you

to achieve your target retirement income. This

monthly target is based on a few data points

such as your income, existing retirement

savings, projected government benefits,

and retirement date. An “auto-escalation”

feature helps you save more by automatically

increasing your monthly contributions on an

annual basis to help you keep pace with your

retirement income goals.

You can easily transfer existing Registered

Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs), Tax-Free

Savings Accounts (TFSAs), and Registered

Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs) into the

Advantages Retirement Plan™. The plan’s

online portal makes these transfers easy.

Note that you should review your RRSP

contribution room beforehand to ensure you

are within your limits.

Why does the plan use target-date funds?

The Investment Committee has selected

Vanguard’s target-date funds to help reduce

the complexity and stress of managing your

own investments. Vanguard Target Retirement

Funds also reduce your management fees, as

Vanguard’s fees are significantly lower than the

average Canadian asset manager.

Target-date funds offer you:

• Investment approaches tailor-made for

retirement, based on the target retirement

date of your choice

• Automatic adjustment of your investments

so your portfolio becomes more

conservative as you get closer to your

target retirement age

1. Assumes that the member and/or the member’s spouse/common-law partner have sufficient RRSP and TFSA contribution room to contribute the annual maximum. Salary income is required to generate RRSP room. Amounts based on 2020 contribution limits.

What are the plan’s fees?

By keeping investment fees low, the plan

helps your savings go further. The Advantages

Retirement Plan™ fees are two to three times less

than what many Canadians pay to invest their

retirement savings. Advantages Retirement Plan™

members pay a fee of 0.6% of assets (plus HST)

and $10/month (plus HST).

These fees are used to cover the costs of the

plan and go towards:

• OMA Insurance’s costs for setting up and

running the plan, providing education and

support to plan members, ensuring strong

plan governance, and evolving the plan over

time for members’ benefits

• Common Wealth’s fees for administering

and managing the plan, as well as providing

and maintaining the technology for the plan’s

online platform

• Vanguard’s fees for providing target-date

fund options in the program

• Canadian Western Trust’s fees for providing

custodial and trustee services for the plan

• The costs and fees associated with the

delivery of the guaranteed lifetime income

program

The cost to purchase guaranteed lifetime income

is based on your age and sex, the insurer’s

assumptions about longevity, and economic

How can I secure guaranteed lifetime income?

Once you retire, it will become even more

important to stay on top of your retirement

savings. The Advantages Retirement Plan™ uses

RRIFs and TFSAs for the post-retirement phase,

provides tailor-made solutions for the post-

retirement period, and assists in turning your

savings into steady, sustainable income.

OMA members are looking for a way to get

guaranteed income for life to protect against

the risk of outliving their money, or the danger

of an ill-timed market downturn as they are

approaching or in retirement. That’s why the

Advantages Retirement Plan™ includes an option

to convert some of your savings into guaranteed

lifetime income by purchasing Brookfield’s life

annuity as early as age 50, with regular payments

guaranteed for life starting as late as age 71.

This annuity product offering is unique to the

Advantages Retirement Plan™ and is specifically

designed for Ontario’s physicians and their

spouses. In addition to monthly contributions

into the annuity program, you can make one or

more lump sum purchases in cash using your

RRSP contribution room or through a transfer-in of

existing RRIF/RRSP assets.

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factors like interest rates. Premium rates will be

updated quarterly to reflect changing market

conditions. Members will be able to access

quotes through the online platform. These rates

are inclusive of a fee of 0.33% per year for

three years on premiums paid, which the plan

charges in lieu of the 0.6% annual fee charged on

investments through the plan.

The information contained in this article is provided for educational purposes only and should not be construed as advice to be acted upon. The

information is not intended to offer investment, taxation, accounting, financial or similar professional advice, nor is it intended to replace the advice of

independent tax, financial, accounting or legal professionals. This information is based on the common circumstances of the Ontario physician community

who are Canadian residents and does not take into account any individual’s particular financial needs, circumstances, residency and objectives.

Employees of OMA Insurance are not licensed or authorized to provide investment products, services or advice to you, except as it relates to insurance.

Check out the FAQs, educational articles, and case studies

based on a physician’s life stage

Use the retirement readiness calculator, which provides a

preview of the enrollment process by determining a default

savings rate and a projected monthly retirement income

Get your questions answered by speaking to OMA Insurance

staff, so that you’ll be ready to make monthly contributions or

transfer existing retirement savings as soon as the Advantages

Retirement Plan™ launches in early 2020

Get retirement readyVisit the new Advantages Retirement PlanTM website

omainsurance.com/retire