These are 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.

This is the average of the year’s maximum pensionable earnings (YMPE) for the five calendar years before your HOOPP benefit is calculated. Your benefit is calculated when you retire, terminate or pass away.

This is the highest average of your annualized earnings during any consecutive period(s) of five years of eligibility service before your HOOPP benefit is calculated. Benefits are calculated when you retire, terminate or pass away.

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.

HOOPP allows you to “buy back” eligible periods of time in the past, so that the service you purchase can count towards your HOOPP pension. Please see the Buying Back Service booklet on hoopp.com for more information.

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.

This is the length of time, measured in years and part years that you have contributed to HOOPP. It includes any past service you buy, service transferred into HOOPP or service that may be credited should you be disabled.

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.

Eligibility service is used to determine the reduction applied to your pension if you decide to take early retirement and is based on your years of membership in the Plan, plus any service purchased or transferred into the Plan, minus any non-contributory leave periods or periods during which you were not employed by a HOOPP employer.

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.

This is a service for which neither you nor your employer made contributions. It can be credited to you during a health leave if you submit medical evidence that shows you meet HOOPP’s definition of partially disabled, totally disabled or totally and permanently disabled.

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 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.

This is a tax-deferred retirement savings arrangement for locked-in funds transferred out of a pension plan upon terminating from the Plan. It has different withdrawal rules than a LIRA.

Sample of an official marriage certificate issued by the Ontario Registrar General's Office.

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.

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.

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.

This is the average of the year’s maximum pensionable earnings (YMPE) for the five calendar years before your HOOPP benefit is calculated. Your benefit is calculated when you retire, terminate or pass away.