The Alberta Teachers’ Association

The Alberta Teachers’ Pension Plan is a defined benefit pension plan that pays lifetime pensions to teachers based on a formula.

• The average teacher lives 30 years after retirement. Most teachers will continue to get more out of the pension plan than they ever put in. For every dollar teachers contribute to their pension, they get on average eight dollars back in retirement.
• Every year, the plan collects more money in contributions than it requires to meet its obligations to current pensioners.
• The cost of managing the pension plan is about one-fifth of the cost of investing on your own.
• Cost-of-living adjustments (70 per cent of inflation) will be included in pension payments each year until the teacher’s death. The teacher’s beneficiary will continue to receive the pension after the teacher’s death.
• Your pension is guaranteed for life and is inflation protected.
• The risk of fewer than expected returns is not borne by the pensioner but shared half by all contributing teachers and half by the Alberta government.
• Teachers are eligible for a pension when they reach 55 years of age and have five years of pensionable service.

For more information, contact Teacher Welfare at 1-800-232-7208 (toll free in Alberta) or 780-447-9400 (in Edmonton).

Did You Know highlights programs and resources offered by the Alberta Teachers’ Association. Watch for instalments in future issues of the ATA News.