Earnings you are credited within a calendar year that count toward your HOOPP pension. If you work part time or less than one full year, your annualized earnings will be based on what you would earn if you worked full time for the whole year. If you’re an incorporated physician, your annualized earnings in a calendar year are based on the greater of your pensionable earnings expressed on an annualized basis (up to your upper earnings limit) and your lower earnings limit.

The average of the YMPE for the five years before your HOOPP benefit is calculated. Your benefit is calculated when you retire, terminate or pass away.

If you’re an incorporated physician, these are the pensionable earnings you are expected to receive in a calendar year, expressed on an annualized basis. Your baseline earnings for your first year of membership are established by your employer (Medicine Professional Corporation or MPC). In each subsequent year, your baseline earnings are your annualized earnings from the previous year. For the purposes of contributing to the Plan, your employer (MPC) applies HOOPP’s contribution rates to the greater of your pensionable earnings expressed on an annualized basis (up to your upper earnings limit) and your lower earnings limit.

This is the monthly lifetime payment you will receive from HOOPP at retirement, based on HOOPP’s defined benefit pension formula. This does not include the bridge benefit for early retirees.

Under provincial pension legislation, your qualifying spouse is automatically entitled to spousal benefits. If your qualifying spouse predeceases you, your spousal benefits have been waived or you don't have a qualifying spouse, you can name any person, persons, organization or your estate as a beneficiary(s).

The early retirement bridge benefit is a monthly payment that supplements your basic lifetime HOOPP pension until age 65 when government pensions normally begin.

A provision HOOPP offers that enables you to purchase eligible periods of service that occurred in the past in order to increase your pension benefit in retirement.

The CPP is a social insurance plan that is funded by the contributions of employees, employers and self-employed people, as well as the revenue earned on CPP investments. The CPP covers virtually all employed and self-employed people in Canada, excluding Quebec, which operates its own comprehensive plan, the Quebec Pension Plan. The CPP provides income replacement to contributors and their families in the event of retirement, disability or death. The CPP is a statutory program that is governed by the federal government and the provinces. Eligibility criteria must be met in order to receive benefits.

A Canada-model pension plan, like HOOPP, includes mandatory or automatic contributions by plan members and employers and all investment decisions are managed by expert investment professionals on behalf of members. These are typically defined benefit pension plans with independent governance, scale, in-house management, diversification and a long-time horizon, which means it uses long-term investment strategies to withstand short-term market volatility. Canada-model plans also utilize all five value drivers of retirement efficiency: saving, fees and costs, investment discipline, fiduciary governance and risk pooling.

Capital accumulation plans are tax-assisted group retirement or savings plans. These plans may be sponsored by an employer, union, association or a combination of these entities for the benefit of its employees or members. Capital accumulation plans can include group registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), defined contribution (DC) pension plans, deferred profit-sharing plans and employee profit-sharing plans, among others. Capital accumulation plans can vary in size from small to large depending on the plan sponsor and number of contributors.

The commuted value of your pension is the amount of money needed now to pay your pension in retirement, based on your service and earnings to date. The commuted value fluctuates with changes in factors such as your age and interest rates.

Statistics Canada produces the consumer price index (CPI), as a monthly measure of the rate of inflation. The CPI is based on the cost of a "basket" of approximately 600 goods and services, and is regularly adjusted to reflect seasonal changes and changes in consumer habits. HOOPP's annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) is based upon the December to December increase in the previous year's CPI.

The length of time you have contributed to HOOPP. It includes any free accrual and periods gained by buying back service and excludes non-contributory leaves. Contributory service is used to calculate your pension. If you’re an incorporated physician with pensionable earnings in a calendar year that, when expressed on an annualized basis, are less than your lower earnings limit, your contributory service will be adjusted proportionally.

In a defined benefit plan members' benefits are determined by a formula usually based on years of service times earnings, rather than by the investment returns made on their pension contributions.

In a DC plan, the employee and employer pay a defined amount into the plan each year. The amount of pension income the member receives upon retirement is determined by, among other things, the amount of contributions accumulated and the investment income earned.

If you’re an incorporated physician, this is the amount that establishes your upper earnings limit and lower earnings limit. It is determined in each calendar year as the previous year’s rate of increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 1%, multiplied by your baseline earnings.

The length of time you have been a member of HOOPP. It includes any free accrual and periods gained by buying back service and excludes certain periods when you did not make contributions to the Plan. Eligibility service is used to determine the reduction (if any) that will apply to your pension if you decide to retire early.

This refers to a duty of care and a duty of loyalty that one party has to another. As a fiduciary, a pension plan administrator is subject to a legal duty to plan members and beneficiaries. This means that HOOPP and other Canada-model pension plans must consider the interests of members in managing the Plan and Fund.

A group RRSP is an employer-sponsored retirement savings plan, similar to an individual RRSP but administered on a group basis by the employer. Contributions are made by payroll deduction, on a pre-tax basis, through a Group RRSP administrator. Employee contributions are often matched by the employer (typically to a maximum of 3-5% of earnings). Contributions by the employer are not mandatory and are taxable as income to the employee.

The GIS is a monthly payment administered by the federal government, which is available to low-income Canadians and residents of Canada who receive the OAS pension. To be eligible for this payment, your annual income must be less than the GIS income threshold.

A medical doctor licensed to practice medicine and operating under a Medicine Professional Corporation (MPC) in Ontario. An incorporated physician who is identified as participating within their MPC’s HOOPP participation agreement will join HOOPP and be deemed to be a full-time member.

A leave is a period of time when a member is absent from work. In most cases a leave must be approved by a member's employer.

This is a tax-deferred retirement savings vehicle - similar to a registered retirement income fund - for locked-in RRSP funds or transfers directly from registered pension plans (such as HOOPP.)

Formerly called a locked-in RRSP, this is a tax-deferred retirement savings arrangement for locked-in funds transferred out of a pension plan upon terminating from the Plan.

If you’re an incorporated physician, these are your minimum pensionable earnings, expressed on an annualized basis, on which you can build benefits without an adjustment to your contributory service. Where your annualized pensionable earnings are less than your lower earnings limit, your contributory service is adjusted proportionally. This limit is determined in each calendar year as your baseline earnings minus your earnings limit adjustment.

The OAS pension is a monthly payment administered by the federal government, which is available to Canadians and legal residents of Canada if they are 65 years old and older. The amount you receive depends on your income and how long you have lived in Canada or specific countries after the age of 18.

Being partially disabled means you have a physical or mental impairment that HOOPP has determined currently prevents you from doing your own job.

A past service pension adjustment (PSPA) is the deemed value of pension benefits purchased in one year for service in a previous year or years.

A pension adjustment (PA) is the deemed value of the benefits a member earns every year in a registered pension plan such as HOOPP.

The regular straight time portion of wages, salary and other amounts paid to you in relation to hours, weeks, or other specific periods of time that you’re employed, and that form a regular and integral part of your remuneration up to the full-time hours for your position. Your pensionable earnings may differ from the actual employment earnings you receive from your employer. For more information about pensionable earnings, you can consult HOOPP’s Employer Administration Manual which is available on hoopp.com.

In general terms, a qualifying spouse is a person who, at the earlier of the date that you retire or pass away, you were married to but not living separate and apart from, or living together continuously in a common law relationship for at least one year, or earlier if as parents of a child. To be eligible to receive a spousal lifetime pension, your spouse must meet the definition of a qualifying spouse, as set out in the HOOPP Plan Text, at the applicable time.

Under provincial pension legislation, a member can not pay for more than half of the value of his or her pension. At the time the member retires, terminates membership in HOOPP, or dies (before retirement), HOOPP will calculate the commuted value of the member's pension and compare that amount with the required contributions the member has made to the Plan, plus interest on those contributions. If the member's contributions and interest are more than half of the value of his or her pension, the extra amount will be refunded to the member. These returned contributions are known as refundable contributions. Payment of refundable contributions does not reduce the member's commuted value.

An RRSP is a retirement savings plan that you establish, and that is registered with the Canada Revenue Agency, to which you or your spouse or common-law partner contribute. Deductible RRSP contributions can be used to reduce your tax. Any income you earn in the RRSP is usually exempt from tax as long as the funds remain in the plan; you generally have to pay tax when you receive payments from the plan. Contributions are subject to annual limits.

A TFSA is a way for individuals who are 18 years of age or older and who have a valid social insurance number (SIN) to set money aside tax-free throughout their lifetime. The contributions you make to a TFSA are not deductible for income tax purposes. Any amount contributed, as well as any income earned in the account (for example, investment income and capital gains), is generally tax-free, even when it is withdrawn. The maximum amount you can contribute to a TFSA is determined by your TFSA contribution room.

Being totally and permanently disabled means you have a condition causing physical or mental impairment that HOOPP has determined prevents you from engaging in any employment for which you are reasonably suited by virtue of your education, training or experience and that can reasonably be expected to continue for the remainder of your lifetime.

Being totally disabled means you have a condition causing physical or mental impairment that HOOPP has determined prevents you from engaging in any employment for which you are reasonably suited by virtue of your education, training or experience.

If you’re an incorporated physician, these are your maximum pensionable earnings, expressed on an annualized basis, on which you can contribute and build benefits. This limit is determined in each calendar year as your baseline earnings plus your earnings limit adjustment.

To be vested means that you are entitled to receive a future pension. If you are a member of the Plan on or after July 1, 2012, you are vested.

An amount set each year by the federal government based on the average wage in Canada. The YMPE is used in determining your required contributions to the Plan.