GROWTHplus for Employers

An overview of CAAT’s optional savings account for Plan members.

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What is GROWTHplus? 

GROWTHplus Investment Account is an optional savings account for CAAT Pension Plan members to grow their tax-sheltered savings and benefit from CAAT’s investment returns. With GROWTHplus, Plan members can build their savings together with the secure lifetime pension they have with CAAT. 

Value for participating CAAT employers

book reader icon Enhanced employee benefit at no employer cost 

GROWTHplus is an additional savings option for CAAT members, allowing them to benefit from CAAT’s investment returns. There is no need for additional contributions from participating employers. 

book reader icon Doing more for your employees

As a CAAT participating employer, your employees participate in a modern defined benefit pension plan. GROWTHplus is an add-on that gives Plan members the option to grow additional tax-sheltered savings and benefit from CAAT’s investment returns. With GROWTHplus, members can grow their savings together with the secure lifetime pension they have with CAAT.

book reader icon No heavy lifting required

CAAT works directly with members who wish to participate in GROWTHplus – members can transfer-in funds directly through the online My Pension portal, or by submitting a form when they contact CAAT. 

What’s your role? 

GROWTHplus is a member-focused offering and there is no need for additional contributions from you as a participating CAAT employer. Currently, eligible Plan members can transfer-in their tax-sheltered savings from eligible registered retirement savings vehicles. As future capabilities are developed, employers will be able to choose, at their discretion, to offer GROWTHplus deposit options for their employees via payroll deduction.

Resources for employers

Resources to share with your employees

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are ten of the most-asked questions we have received from participating CAAT employers about GROWTHplus. To learn more, download A Quick Guide to GROWTHplus Investment Account. If you still have questions, email employer@caatpension.ca

GROWTHplus Investment Account is an optional savings account for CAAT Pension Plan members to grow their tax-sheltered savings and benefit from CAAT’s investment returns with a trusted organization.

Members can leave the investment decisions to CAAT’s professionals and benefit from the Plan’s scale and asset mix, including private equity, infrastructure and real estate.

With GROWTHplus, Plan members can grow their savings together with the secure lifetime pension they have with CAAT.

GROWTHplus is a member-focused offering and there is no need for additional contributions from you as a participating CAAT employer. There will be no new employer reporting requirements for GROWTHplus. CAAT will work directly with members who wish to participate in GROWTHplus, helping them transfer-in their funds – either through the online My Pension portal, or by contacting our team.

CAAT will provide members with all the information they need to know to get started with GROWTHplus. If members have questions, we encourage you to direct them to the GROWTHplus Investment Account member webpage to download the GROWTHplus Member Handbook, test out the GROWTHplus Modeller, or submit their GROWTHplus question to CAAT via the Contact us form.

If you would like to promote GROWTHplus to your employees, feel free to download the Email and newsletter template from the “GROWTHplus for Employers” resource page, then copy/paste the message into your internal email, intranet or employee email.

Currently, GROWTHplus only accepts transfers from eligible registered retirement savings vehicles. Future developments may include options for direct contributions and payroll deductions, should you choose to allow such payroll deductions for your employees.

More details will be made available in the future.

Members will be able to access their personalized GROWTHplus information, including GROWTHplus annual statements on My Pension, CAAT’s member portal. Members will also have access to information about recent GROWTHplus transactions.

Employees who joined CAAT through a merger can access My Pension to see their personalized GROWTHplus information. For any defined benefit pension-related information, the current process and contact information remains unchanged.

A Member’s balance is updated once per year after CAAT’s annual net rate of return for the prior calendar year is determined, usually in April.

Members participating in GROWTHplus will receive two annual statements: a DB pension annual statement and a GROWTHplus Investment Account annual statement. The GROWTHplus annual statement is a detailed overview of the member’s GROWTHplus Investment Account that will show their balance as of December 31 of the previous year.

Currently, GROWTHplus is only accepting transfers from existing eligible tax-sheltered savings from eligible registered retirement savings vehicles, including registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs), registered retirement income funds (RRIF) and registered pension plans (RPPs) which would not affect members’ existing RRSP contribution room.

The GROWTHplus administration fee is designed to allow the Plan to recover administration costs associated with providing and maintaining GROWTHplus. It will be applied to the return that the account earns.

The administration fee is currently set at 0.3%. It is equivalent to $3 annually for every $1,000 a member has in GROWTHplus. The GROWTHplus Administration Fee may change from time to time, but no more often than annually.

Members can withdraw some or all of their GROWTHplus balance during an annual withdrawal window. The annual withdrawal window opens on May 1 and closes on May 31 each year. Before the year in which a member turns 72, withdrawals during the annual window are optional.

Starting the year a member turns 72, applicable pension law requires that they start making withdrawals. These withdrawals are paid in cash (less withholding tax). Withdrawals starting the year the member turns 72 are subject to minimum and maximum (where applicable) amounts.

Members will be able to withdraw locked-in and non-locked-in funds during the annual withdrawal window. If they have non-locked-in funds, they will also have an additional option to set up regular monthly payments.

GROWTHplus funds cannot be directly applied towards a HBP or an LLP. However, if you intend to use your GROWTHplus savings for this purpose, you can transfer non-locked-in funds to a personal RRSP at another financial institution, and may then be able to apply those funds towards this type of program. Eligibility for HBP and LLP are subject to the rules and conditions of your financial institution and the program.

Members can use GROWTHplus funds to make a DB purchase at any time while employed with a CAAT employer. This can include eligible leaves of absence and periods when members worked for their current employer before enrolling in the CAAT Plan.

Contact us

For additional inquiries about GROWTHplus, please send us an email at employer@caatpension.ca and a member of our team will connect with you.

This contact form is not in use while we upgrade our website. If you like to contact us, please use the general form here, and indicate your specific area of interest in the subject line. You can also call us at 1.866.350.2228. Thank you for your interest.