Retirement & Financial Planning
Group retirement plans rarely look the same at year 20 as they did at launch, but many plan sponsors still manage them as if nothing changed. HUB International brings ongoing benchmarking, governance support and retirement-readiness guidance built for group plans.
Stay Ahead of Business Challenges
Where group retirement plan pressure shows up today
Group retirement plans face pressure on three fronts: provider and fee benchmarking, plan design that serves every career stage and the handoff into personal retirement income planning. Each requires a different kind of ongoing attention.
A group retirement plan that was competitive when it launched can quietly fall behind on fees, fund menu and provider terms if no one checks it against the market again.
Many plan sponsors keep the recordkeeper and investment lineup chosen at launch, with no structured way to compare providers, fees or fund menus against the wider market. The plan looked competitive once, and no one has checked since whether it still does.
A group retirement plan that was competitive when it launched can quietly fall behind on fees, fund menu and provider terms if no one checks it against the market again
A plan that was competitively priced at launch rarely stays that way on its own. Benchmarking against the wider market, not loyalty to the original provider, keeps a plan cost-effective.
Plan sponsors gain a clear, current view of how their fees, fund menu and provider terms compare to the market, replacing a single-provider setup that hasn't been benchmarked in years.
A workforce spans employees who just started saving and employees approaching retirement — a plan designed for one moment in a career rarely serves both equally well as that mix shifts.
A plan designed years ago for one type of employee rarely serves an early-career employee and one approaching retirement equally well. Capital Accumulation Plan (CAP) Guidelines expect plan sponsors to show they have reviewed contribution defaults and investment lineups against current retirement-readiness expectations, not simply assumed the original design still holds.
Reviewing default contributions, investment lineups and plan documentation against CAP Guideline expectations and the workforce's actual makeup closes the gap for employees at every career stage at once, rather than optimizing for one group at a time.
A plan can meet every technical guideline and still fail half the workforce it covers, simply because nobody has checked whether the original design still fits.
Employees at every career stage, and the plan's own governance record, hold up against current retirement-readiness expectations, replacing a design that was only ever reviewed once, at launch.
A workforce spans employees who just started saving and employees approaching retirement — a plan designed for one moment in a career rarely serves both equally well as that mix shifts.
Employees nearing retirement need to move from workplace plan accumulation into personal decumulation, CPP or QPP coordination and income planning — but that transition is typically handled by two separate relationships, a group plan advisor and a personal wealth advisor, with plan design often set without reference to total rewards strategy at all.
HUB coordinates the handoff from group plan accumulation into personal retirement income planning directly, connecting its group retirement practice with its Retirement & Private Wealth practice and linking plan design to total rewards strategy — giving plan sponsors and employees continuity across the full retirement journey instead of two separate, disconnected relationships.
The moment an employee needs the most coordinated support — the transition into retirement — is usually the moment two separate advisors hand them off to each other. HUB's practices are designed to make that handoff invisible instead.
Employees move from accumulation to retirement income planning through one coordinated relationship, and plan sponsors see retirement plan design as connected to their broader total rewards strategy rather than isolated from it.
Our Areas of Expertise
How HUB structures ongoing support for group retirement plans
Standard plan reviews happen once, at launch, and then stop. HUB structures Retirement & Financial Planning as one continuous relationship — plan benchmarking, governance support and employee-facing retirement preparation working together instead of as separate, disconnected engagements.
Group retirement plans are often benchmarked once, at the point of sale, and then left alone for years while the provider market, fee structures and investment menus keep moving. HUB compares recordkeeper, investment lineup, fee and plan structure against the broader Canadian retirement plan market on an ongoing basis. Independent governance support, performance monitoring and plan committee support help plan sponsors document that they are meeting CAP Guideline expectations, rather than assuming a single launch-day review is sufficient. For plan sponsors managing CAP governance obligations without a structured process, that ongoing documentation is often the gap that matters most.
A group retirement plan is judged, in the end, by how ready employees feel when retirement arrives. HUB provides employee-facing education, income forecasting tools and support enrolling members in the Canada Pension Plan, Quebec Pension Plan and Old Age Security, extending through the financial and emotional transition into retirement. Where personal wealth or investment advisory needs extend beyond the group plan, HUB coordinates with the Retirement & Private Wealth practice so employees move from workplace accumulation into personal decumulation as one continuous journey rather than a handoff between two unrelated relationships. Retirement plan design is also connected back to the organization's broader total rewards strategy, so contribution design and retention goals reinforce each other.
Insights for Your Business
Retirement and financial planning insights and resources
