The federal budget

The Minister of Finance, James M. Flaherty, presented his 2011 budget on March 22, 2011.One component of the budget that I would like to discuss is the federal support for retirement savings. The good news for Canadians is that the budget offers to boost the Guaranteed Income Supplement for low-income seniors with up to $600 of extra money a year for single people and $840 per couple, gets to eliminate mandatory retirement for federally regulated employees, and provides an additional $5 million a year to senior support programs. Collectively, the new budget measures for seniors will improve the financial security of 680,000 Canadians and will cost $300. The increase “will mean greater financial security for the poorest of the poor who are older in Canada,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said. Flaherty came across with less than Layton (NDP) wanted. There are no reforms to Canada's pension system, another NDP demand

While there were some limited enhancements to support retirement savings, there were no enhancements to the Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and Tax-Free Savings Plan which I feel are necessary as more and more Canadians are funding their own retirement. The proposed reforms made clear that we should not rely on either the state or our employer to fund a comfortable retirement. If we want a decent pension and want to take it at an age when we can still enjoy it, we probably need to start putting aside our own private savings.

Ian McGowan, the head of savings and investment at Scottish Widows, said: "The Budget highlights once again the pressure on public finance and reinforces the need for people to take greater individual responsibility for their financial security."

So, as middle-age Canadian, I am worry about my future. Will I have enough money to maintain the standard of living in retirement? My savings are still very low even though I have RRSP and been working for more than ten years. I think that the Government’s incentives can encourage Canadians to save more for retirement as well as the expansion of pension reform.