28 JUNE 2010
TO: Academic Money Purchase Pension Plan Participants
FROM: Academic Money Purchase Pension Committee (AMPPC)
ANNUAL REPORT TO PLAN PARTICIPANTS
Since June of 2009, the Committee has met 9 times for a total of approximately 17 hours. Apart
from the normal oversight duties associated with the operation of the Plan, a principal focus this
year was relative to the committee’s responsibility to review the Governance Document every
three years. To aid in this, the committee completed a self-assessment using the Joint Forum of
Financial Market Regulators Capital Accumulation Plan (CAP) Guidelines Self Assessment Tool
to benchmark the plan to ensure compliance with CAP Guidelines. The outcome of this along
with the committee’s review of the plan’s Governance Document were a number of small
changes, which have been forwarded to the Board of Governors and the Executive of the USFA
for approval.
Other initiatives of the Committee were to conduct an annual review and recommend changes to
the Statement of Investment Policies and Procedures to the Board and the Executive of the
USFA for approval and, in conjunction with Sun Life, develop a communication and education
plan for the Plan. In response to a proposal from the University, the Committee agreed to the
establishment of education sessions for members of the AMPPC to help ensure that these
members exercise their oversight duties in an informed manner. These sessions were held in
November 2009. Finally, the Committee has discussed a possible review of the current
investment structure of the Plan, but no decision has been taken to date.
As part of the ongoing education and communication strategy, the AMPPC drafted three
newsletters to the membership and partnered with Sun Life Financial to circulate six newsletters
dealing with financial planning and investment strategies. These newsletters can be viewed at the
link noted at the end of the newsletter. The AMPPC together with Sun Life organized three
different investment workshops which were held on October 21st and 22nd, 2009 to familiarize
members with the principles of building an investment portfolio. In addition, the Committee
arranged for a general meeting on February 1, 2010 that provided members with the opportunity
to discuss the annual performance of the Plan with our Investment Consultant representative.
Finally, the Committee partnered with Sun Life to hold retirement planning workshops on
February 23rd and 24th, 2010.
Investment Performance of the Plan
As Plan members have differing risk preferences, the Plan makes several investment options
available to members. These options allow members to select segregated funds with a mix of
underlying assets that meets their investment needs. Members are reminded of their
responsibility to review periodically the portfolio structure of their participation in the Plan and
to revise it as appropriate given their needs.
Stock markets around the world began to rebound off of their lows of early 2009. Investment
declines of 2008 and early 2009 were somewhat mitigated in the rebound that occurred during
the balance of the year. While in 2008, the Life Cycle Funds did provide some protection
relative to their benchmarks they also participated in the rebounds in 2009. The benchmark
portfolios for each of the funds have been determined using the actual returns of the market
indexes such as the S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index, Standard and Poor’s 500 U. S. Stock
Index, Morgan Stanley Europe, Australia and Far East Index, DEX Universe Bond Index and 91Day Canadian Treasury Bills. The following is a summary of the Plan’s investment performance
as at December 31, 2009 exclusive of investment expenses:
The total fund investment performance is summarized below:
Fund Performance (gross)
Money Market
Benchmark
Total fund
Bond Fund
Benchmark
Total fund
Conservative Life Cycle Fund
Benchmark
Total fund
Balanced Life Cycle Fund
Benchmark
Total fund
Aggressive Life Cycle Fund
Benchmark
Total fund
Canadian Equity Fund
Benchmark
Total fund
U.S. Equity Fund
Benchmark
Total fund
Non-North American Equity Fund
Benchmark
Total fund
One
Year
Four
Years
0.6%
0.7%
3.1%
3.2%
5.4%
5.4%
4.9%
4.8%
8.0%
8.4%
4.0%
4.1%
13.1%
15.0%
2.1%
2.7%
15.5%
18.1%
1.1%
1.8%
35.1%
30.6%
3.9%
4.4%
7.4%
7.4%
-3.3%
-3.3%
11.9%
26.7%
-1.5%
0.9%
The Sun Life website at https://www.sunnet.sunlife.com/member/signin/index.aspx contains
additional information about the Plan’s performance. Additionally, you can access the Plan’s
Financial Statements at http://www.usask.ca/fsd
Respectively submitted by
Howie Wall, Chair
Robert Lucas, Vice-Chair
Academic Money Purchase Pension Committee