Back to Stats Canada for another very interesting statistic, there are more Canadians in pensions as of January 1, 2008. This is a surprising number, but also an old number.
As of January 1, 2008, membership in registered pension plans (RPPs) in Canada amounted to 5.9 million, an increase of more than 140,000, or 2.4%, from the previous year.
A few large private pension programs have faced difficulties. Examples include Nortel, GM, and Ford. My guess would be the number from January 1, 2008 to now is a big drop. The whole business of private firms with pensions is becoming a bigger issue. This is due to the liability it represents to these firms. Air Canada is talking about their pensions, AGAIN, as an example.
Will the defined benefit pension in the private sector be going in the same direction as the North American Auto Industry? Not sure, but it does show that the benefits package for today’s employee is changing.
Will the worker of today be able to retire? I keep asking this question. I think the answer is simple. The age of retirement is going to change from 65 to an older age (70 or 75).
Addendum 2019
By 2019 my guess would have been a drop in RPP membership, but that is not the case. The numbers by then were:
Cell Phone News from 2009
This one did NOT age well. The Canadian Cell market is over priced and under serviced. The CRTC is not going to do anything about it.
With Rogers and Fido both confirming that they will have the new iPhone 3G S available. It will be available the day they are released in the U.S., which is interesting, if not a little expensive. The new iPhone has some interesting new features, but is still far too rich for my blood.
A more interesting report by TechCrunch (based on a report by Juniper Research) highlights a significant trend. Cheap phone set sales will increase by 22% by 2014. This translates to over 700 million units sold per year. That is even more interesting. More consumers are simply buying cheap phones, especially all over the world. They are choosing these instead of buying "Smart Phones". I am not surprised by this data, but it is very interesting.
Many people want a phone as a phone. Years ago, cell phones were reviewed for call quality, range etc. Nowadays, the emphasis is on features. This is weird.
It would be interesting to see the distribution of handset prices by country. Maybe Canadians and Americans pick pricey handsets.
That is all I want is a phone that can send text messages, that is enough for me, so why am I paying so much for the service? Oh forgot I live in Canada, that is why…