As we grow up, we are taught the value of a dollar. We learn that it takes work to make money, plus common sense to properly spend it, save it and keep an eye on it. From there, we eventually learn about investment opportunities in order to not just hold onto the money we already have, but also, to make it grow.

One way Canadians continue to bump up their finances is through employee pension plans. Some workers are fortunate enough to have access to defined benefit and defined contribution plans at their place of business. Generally, the former is an employee account in which companies pay into, while the latter receives contributions from both employees and the company.

According to a recent study by Statistics Canada, 6.2 million Canadian workers were part of an employee-sponsored pension plan in the first quarter. Of that group of people, 5.2 million of them (87.5%) belonged to pension plans that’s assets were managed by trusteed funds. The remaining employees had their assets handled through insurance company contracts.

In all, the market value of assets featured in Canadian trusteed pension funds was greater than $1.8 trillion in the first quarter.

Statistics Canada also reported that pension fund revenue dropped 14.8% in the first quarter, to $48.3 billion, thanks to investment income (-32.6%) and total revenue from contributions (-15.9%) declining quarter over quarter.

-Adam Grant

Friday, October 6 (2pm ET/11am PT) on “theZoomer,” host Marissa Semkiw discusses diminishing corporate pensions with CARP’s Wanda Morris, lawyer Avi Kaplan and pension group members Michael Powell and Patrick Mousseau.