Canadians need a pension dashboard: C.D. Howe

Kathryn Bush, a senior fellow with the C.D. Howe Institute and a member of the C.D. Howe Institute Pension Policy Council, is calling for the development of an online retirement savings dashboard that pulls together Canadians’ various sources of retirement income into a single view.

“How can Canadians make optimal decisions if they don’t have a straightforward way to see how savings and entitlements translate into monthly income?” asked Bush, in a media release. “We need a modern and accessible tool that gives them an accurate picture of their expected retirement income — without needing to be an expert.”

Existing tools require users to input information from multiple sources, including employer-sponsored retirement plans, registered and non-registered savings accounts and government benefits.

“The proposed dashboard would automatically pull relevant data from government and private sources, offering real-time projections and also helping users identify ‘lost’ retirement accounts,” according to the release.

Bush’s report, Roadmap for Retirement: The Case for a National Pension Dashboard, shares examples of pension dashboards from Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Israel, The Netherlands and Sweden.

Privacy risk

She acknowledges that her proposal — should it make it off the ground — creates data privacy risk. Bush recommends a live-request model that utilizes AI to access data requested by users from financial institutions and government databases. That would entail the implementation of digital banking capabilities more broadly.

“Under this approach, only the most current data would be retrieved on demand, avoiding the creation of a potentially attractive target for cybercriminals,” she wrote.

Bush’s vision is not a new one — a one-screen view has been long discussed in both the private and public sectors. The technology may be in place for the first time, but the venture would still require an extraordinary collaborative effort among federal and provincial governments, regulators, retirement plan sponsors and industry providers. It’s sure to come with a hefty price tag too.

“Leveraging existing infrastructure and advanced technologies, such as AI or open banking, will help avoid duplicating effort,” wrote Bush. “Nonetheless, some costs will be unavoidable, and stakeholders will need to determine an equitable way to cover them — whether through government funding, industry contributions or minimal advertising revenue — while preserving the dashboard’s integrity and broad accessibility.”

Kevin Press

Kevin Press is editorial director for Advisor.ca. He has been writing about money since 1997. Reach him at kevin@newcom.ca.