Re: Pensions vs. Mortgages

Hello Ronda,

Thanks for clarification. Interesting enough, your attachment has 2018 numbers indeed. But the posted document with FAQ2(2) on SFU site with resources, still has 2014 data which I was referring to.

If we compare both documents, at the age of 65 buy back costs have increased:

Salary 2014 2018

70,000 17,684 19,549
100,000 25,263 27,927

130,000 32,842 36,305

If the trend continues, a person with 10-15 pre-retirement years will have much less buy-back power.

Also, I still cannot find anywhere costs of joint pension and no confirmation about transition costs.

If you can comment on this, will be highly appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Regards,

Natalia

From: Ronda Arab
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2018 12:28 PM
To: Natalia Kouzniak; academic-discussion@sfu.ca
Subject: Re: Pensions vs. Mortgages

The costs on the current, updated FAQs are from 2018, not from 2014. Please see item 11 of the attached FAQs or consult the full web page of information here

http://www.sfufa.ca/current-issues/pensions/resources/

Dr. Ronda Arab

Associate Professor of English

Simon Fraser University

From: Natalia Kouzniak <kouzniak@sfu.ca>
Sent: 13 November 2018 11:22:18
To: academic-discussion@sfu.ca
Subject: Re: Pensions vs. Mortgages

Dear All,

My major concern:

a) Transition costs

In 2014, they were announced to be $40,000,000. Now, a consulting company has estimated them to be only $10,000,000, to be absorbed by us within 3 years by taking an additional 1% from our salary (this is not the actual response from the Fund though!) and - please correct me if I am wrong - by excluding the opt-out for anybody. There is no guarantee that it is exactly this lower number, just estimates. And if we say "yes", and then the actual number number turns out to be much higher, after the vote?

b) Buy-back costs

Again, there is only the estimate based on the old data from 2014. What are the exact costs now or what they will be in future (formula?).

c) Joint fees

I could not find anywhere how much it would cost, to include the spouse. Just mentioning that there are additional costs.

During the last presentation in Vancouver, SFUFA representatives promised to try to get the updated numbers *before* the vote. This did not happen. Instead, there was a calculator provided to explain the transition only.

My apologies, if I missed this info though.

Regarding medical benefits: I hope it is possible to re-negotiate with administration those measly $15,000 instead of making it an argument that new plan is better because of better medical benefits, which we do need indeed. Also, our plan with Pacific Blue Cross is not that great. My husband was enrolled in Sun Life and Standard Life earlier where they had much higher allowances for naturopath doctors, acupuncturists, chiropractors etc. with about the same fees. May be it is time to address this issue?

Regards,

Natalia Kouzniak