It’s not as if Becky Wang has circled the year 2047 on her calendar, but she is already starting to plan for her eventual retirement.
Becky is a software developer with the Ministry of Education in Toronto. She joined the OPS about a year ago, first as a contract worker then moving to a permanent full-time position in early 2017. Most people don’t start planning for retirement until they hit middle age, but Becky has made it her mission to learn more about her defined benefit OPSEU Pension Plan that’s administered by OPTrust – even though she is decades away from retirement.
“I just became aware of the pension last October after learning about it from my co-workers who have joined the Plan,” says Becky. “I believe that joining the plan early is better because I realize even now that I’ll need a solid retirement plan to have a better standard of living in retirement.”
Becky signed on early to become part of the People for Pensions program. Late last year she was the youngest person to attend a special focus group about People for Pensions at the head office of OPTrust and expressed a desire to learn more about pensions. She is sharing that information with her co-workers – and especially encourages young contract workers to join the Plan.
Becoming a member of the OPSEU Pension Plan is optional for contract workers, but Becky says many of her colleagues see the benefit of contributing to their pensions as early as possible.
This new member of the Ontario Public Service (OPS) knows the pension plan she’s paying into today will pay off decades from now.
“Most of my co-workers, who are similar in age, are considering joining the Plan because we all realize how important it is to keep or have a better living standard after we’re retired. If we can afford the Plan now, why not?”
When she’s not at work, Becky likes to travel to new places or, closer to home, getting out with friends for good food and fun. Having a defined benefit pension will allow Becky to maintain that lifestyle many, many years down the road when she’s ready to retire.