The list of the most popular baby names is always the talk of the town. Scoop : Noah remains in first position for the third year while on the girls’ side, Emma slips to third place in favor of Alice and Florence. Scoop number 2: there is now an equivalent for new annuitants of the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP), generally retirees. Michel and Sylvie sit at the top.
For the first time this year, Retraite Québec is revealing two rankings rather than one in the avowed hope of drawing double attention to its role, its popularization efforts and especially to the benefits it pays. Even those which have no logical link with its name, such as family allowances. We cannot blame him for this strategy, given its major importance in the lives and budgets of almost all Quebecers.
It starts from birth. Last year, $3.3 billion was distributed in family allowances to 925,000 parents, benefiting nearly 1.6 million children. The average benefit – non-taxable since it is officially a refundable tax credit – therefore amounts to $3,574.
The amount varies depending on the number of children (in shared custody or not), household income and the marital status of the parents. All children are entitled to it, even the most well-off ones fed with a $215 spoon from Christofle. They get the minimum, $1,163 per year.
Parents who raise their children alone are entitled to a “bonus”. It would be stupid to miss it through negligence. So make sure that the correct status is entered in your file.
Notices specifying the new amount to be received as of 1er July are no longer systematically sent by post, in May and June. Parents must request the paper version if they wish. Otherwise, you have to go to the Retraite Québec website to access its information, which requires a clicSÉQUR account and sometimes a certain amount of patience to go through the identification process.
See the amount of Family Allowance to which you are entitled
Retraite Québec also pays the Supplement for the purchase of school supplies of $121 per child (from 4 to 16 years old as of September 30), another non-taxable amount. The deposit will be made in July, in time to take advantage of discounts on Canada notebooks and loose sheets.
Parents of a disabled child who requires “exceptional care” can claim an additional amount. New eligibility criteria were announced this spring. They will be applied to requests sent after 1er July. Again, make sure you don’t miss out on this financial help out of ignorance.
Learn more about the supplement for disabled children
The children leave home, time passes quickly and here we are at 60, facing the possibility of claiming our QPP pension.
No less than 4 out of 10 new providers do not wait a second to comply, whether they have stopped working or not.
The proportion of Quebecers who wait until age 65 is much lower: 23%.
Is it still necessary to remember that pensions paid before age 65 are reduced and will remain so for the rest of life? That it is better, from a financial point of view, to wait as long as possible to contact Retraite Québec?
The calculations have been made many times and the result is always the same: unless you die young, well before your official life expectancy, it pays to be patient. But you still need to have enough savings and be able to sleep at night seeing your cushion melt away while waiting for your public pensions. It’s not easy for everyone.
Read the column “New magic tool for future retirees”
Be careful, the maximum pension amounts that are circulating can create unrealistic expectations. Better to know the averages here.
People aged 60 get $5,486 a year, which should whip those for whom saving isn’t a priority. The 65-year-old group gets $8,188, while Quebecers who waited until age 70 receive $11,626, still on average. Remember that annuities are indexed according to the cost of living.
In total, the QPP returns $17 billion per year to seniors. Last year, 97,211 new beneficiaries were added, among whom we find many Johanne, Sylvie, Pierre and Alain to whom we wish a great retirement.
Consult the list of the most popular first names in Quebec
Honey, the complicated words are gone!
Between two videos of endearing kittens and Ricardo’s recipes, the idea of learning on the Retraite Québec site is not very appealing. If there was a time when the fear of not understanding financial mumbo-jumbo was justified, know that those days are almost over.
The Retraite Québec site has been simplified in recent months. Words or expressions such as “life annuity”, “indexation” and “eligibility” have been replaced. We now prefer “guaranteed pension for life”, “increase based on the cost of living” and “can you receive a pension?” “.
Infographics also better popularize information. In many cases, the maximum pension amounts have been replaced by averages so as not to mislead anyone. The work is not finished, we are starting with the most viewed pages, but the difference is already notable. And the effort is commendable.
The average Quebecer was right to be discouraged.
An analysis carried out by the Scolarius tool made it possible to determine that the level of difficulty of understanding the different texts on the site was 4 out of 5. “We want to move towards 2. We must adapt our discourse,” announces the general director of communications, Anne Hudon.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY RETREAT QUÉBEC
Anne Hudon, general director of communications at Retraite Québec
When I met her a few months ago, she told me how essential it is for her to further popularize information. Obviously, his past at BLEUFEU (Québec Summer Festival) and Opération Enfant Soleil leads him to want to improve the connection with customers.
I have already deplored the fact that you had to get up early to understand the document Heading towards retirement which was transmitted to Quebecers at the dawn of their 60e birthday.
The content of the letter was supposed to allow an informed decision to be made on the best time to claim your pension from the Quebec Pension Plan – a major decision – but you practically needed a baccalaureate in accounting to decode it.
Heading towards retirement then disappeared, it was in the fall of 2022. A few months later, Finance Minister Eric Girard still invited Retraite Québec to be clearer in its communications with the general public.
The messages were heard.
“We know that this is not a very funny subject. And we don’t want to retrain ourselves as comedians, says Anne Hudon. But we’re looking for ways to get into people’s minds so that they understand us and make them think. »
As demonstrated by the annual survey by the Institute on Retirement and Savings (HEC Montréal) unveiled last week, our knowledge of retirement income is not progressing at all. All that remains is to hope that Retraite Québec’s popularization initiative moves the needle a little.
View the Institute’s Retirement and Savings Survey Results