The benefits of contributing: example
Lucia and Michelle are the same age and were hired at the same hospital on the same day. They both earn an average of $80,000 per year. Lucia and Michelle both decide to retire on January 1, 2025. Both have two children, and both took two eighteen month
pregnancy/parental leaves. Lucia made contributions for both of her leaves, but Michelle did not.
That means Lucia has 17 years of contributory and eligibility service and Michelle has 14 years when they each retire at age 55.
Lucia's monthly HOOPP pension at retirement
Michelle's monthly HOOPP pension at retirement
By contributing for these leaves, Lucia will receive on average $503 more per month in retirement and a total of $150,900 more than Michelle between age 55 and age 80. Keep in mind, this example doesn’t factor in any inflation protection that may
be paid in the future.
Making contributions during her leave helped Lucia increase her pension by adding contributory service. Because Lucia’s contributory leave periods were subject to a past service benefit improvement approved by HOOPP, her pension grew even more.
Also, crossing an eligibility service milestone of 15 years helped minimize reductions in her pension for her early retirement. Learn more about eligibility service milestones.
When it’s time to retire, Lucia is eligible for total HOOPP benefits of $1,830 per month, while Michelle would receive $1,315 per month, which includes a bridge benefit until age 65. That’s a difference of $515 per month or $6,180 per year!
See what a difference this makes when Lucia and Michelle are 80 years old, in the following tab.
The benefits of contributing: example
By her 80th birthday, Lucia will have received: |
By her 80th birthday, Michelle will have received |
$525,000 in lifetime pension payments |
$376,500 in lifetime pension benefits |
$9,600 in bridge benefits until age 65 |
$7,200 in bridge benefits until age 65 |
Total lifetime HOOPP benefits: $534,600 |
Total lifetime HOOPP benefits: $383,700 |
Lucia and Michelle were developed as examples by HOOPP for illustrative purposes only. In these examples, we have assumed that Lucia and Michelle have qualified for past service benefit improvements, including the improvement effective on July 1, 2024. For simplicity, inflation protection has not been factored into this example. All amounts have been rounded to the nearest dollar.