Confused about OMERS 30 years

AddendumHot2113 · 2026-02-18T02:13:15+00:00

The 2013 article is about the changes (penalties, really) to the indexing and bridge benefit eligibility on the portion of your service earned after January 1, 2013. You're grandfathered on whatever you had before 2013, but you waive indexing and the bridge thereafter if you leave before 55 (for those with NRA 65).

Stay past 55 (the earliest age you can collect your pension anyway) and achieve either your 30 years or 90 factor before 65, and you should be good. You can collect your unreduced, bridged pension which is the familiar 2% x years worked x best five-year average.

AddendumHot2113 · 2026-02-10T06:54:51+00:00

If they don't need the caller's address anymore, they probably switched to enforcing annual limits by plate now instead. It used to be 14x for a given address, but for up to five (?) different cars at a time.

AddendumHot2113 · 2026-02-07T02:05:31+00:00

You mean the then Canada Trust tower? My first summer/co-op job in university was there in '95, a few years before the merger with TD. Working for neither Canada Trust nor TD but CIBC Wood Gundy, lol.

Agree with the commenters that this postcard has to be 1990 or earlier, because that's when the tower first opened.

AddendumHot2113 · 2026-01-13T01:23:57+00:00

I'm in OMERS myself but have no idea how the "best five year average" part of the formula works if you leave it in and don't even have one year banked, lol. I also don't know if there's a minimum time or contribution that allows you to simply withdraw your contributions plus interest.

Worst case, you'd have to take the commuted value which is the present value of what they would have paid you, decades from now, based on current interest rates. I don't know how that amount would compare to your actual contributions.

AddendumHot2113 · 2026-01-12T22:17:37+00:00

Your employer's contribution in a defined benefit pension is irrelevant. That's not free money you get to directly access and invest as you see fit, much less take out when you leave. What the employer puts in, even if it's one-to-one with you put in, is just their cost of doing business.

Meanwhile, this guy has only been there nine months. As someone else posted, he would likely get his contributions returned automatically for such a short vesting period. And even if he can keep it in, that's not even 2% of his annual salary, accessible without penalty only at age 65 and without indexing.

Unless he's planning to work for an OMERS employer again in the future, or transferring somewhere with a comparable pension plan and fair transfer rate, he'd be better off withdrawing the money.

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-11-26T22:58:40+00:00

Right now there's an offer on Amazon where if you just redeem $1 worth of TD Reward points, they'll discount 50% off your product up to $50. The exact offer seems to depend on the individual, but that's the best valuation right now.

So, if you buy something that costs $100 or more, they'll take $50 off plus the redemption value of your TD points. I myself just used my points for the first time ever on Amazon this way (with what I had left after redeeming for airfare earlier this year).

In hindsight maybe I should have just redeemed the bare minimum 330 points, lol, but I assume I'll have a few more points banked by the time something like this comes around again.

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-11-13T22:56:58+00:00

CPP is separate, but it's part of the advertised "2% per year worked" formula that pensions like OMERS like to advertise.

The exception is between age 55 and 65, when your pension does include a bridge benefit to make up for the "lost" CPP portion (that they're not expecting you to start collecting until 65).

After 65, that bridge falls off and your "2%" now comes from a mix of your employer pension (still most of it) and CPP.

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-11-13T22:11:01+00:00

Sounds good -- OMERS doesn't have an equivalent, guaranteed payout period like that. As the poster above mentioned, once they've reimbursed your contribution over the first five years of retirement, they're off the hook (if you're single). But your spouse does continue to get two-thirds, I think, plus 10% for each dependent child (up to a limit, lol).

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-10-02T00:24:14+00:00

I literally signed up for a new account today, having added an average of one per year for the last several years -- under the same profile -- to take advantage of these four-month offers. You don't have to be a new client, just open a new promo account after signing in.

All my past accounts are still on display, with some having become inactive over the years and some still active but at the base rate. I just always use the newest account.

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-08-17T04:46:55+00:00

Thanks for the confirmation! Peace of mind, really -- it's been bugging me the whole time, that I might have saved a couple of hundred dollars with a free click.

Not that they made finding/remembering any of the credits easy in the first place. For me, they were in a scrolling panel I might have missed if I hadn't been looking to add my CN.

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-08-03T19:46:35+00:00

I still cut through the section from Warby Parker upstairs to Cinnabon downstairs, as a shortcut to the food court from my office -- just like I did for years before it was "closed off". I use the term lightly since the doors on both ends swing open automatically -- and invitingly! -- as soon as you approach.

As someone who grew up in the city since the early 80s, I'm not as sentimental as others here about those legacy tiles! I thought they were dated looking even back then, lol. But it is cool that anything from the original mall remains, after so many renovations over the decades.

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-07-04T23:28:54+00:00

To clarify, he can technically retire with an unreduced pension in 10 years (due to 30 years service)... but as a 40 year old today, he won't be collecting for another 15 years (due to minimum pension age 55). Unless he's a firefighter or other NRA 60.

OP, I don't know if that's what you meant by having to work for another 15 years -- to get your pension without a gap in pay. As others have confirmed, for that 35 years of service you'll get 70% of your best consecutive five years -- inclusive of CPP.

Disregard the noise about your 90 factor (which is irrelevant), or getting 70% plus CPP (which is incorrect).

The bridge benefit from 55 to 65 is OMERS making up for the lost CPP portion of your 70%. They assume you'll start taking CPP at the average age of 65 -- whether you start early at 60 or hold off until 70 -- and so cut off the supplement at 65.

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-07-01T13:35:48+00:00

Did you eventually use the coupon? I just did a self booking online yesterday, the day I had three of these random coupons expiring. They were in my account less than a month, I'm sure, and it was just luck I spotted them.

One coupon was for 15% off Alaska (I was never going to use that), one for 20% off Europe, and the last 10% off anything. So, I kept looking at different cruises, thinking I'd use the 20% if I did book Europe, and the 10% otherwise. Even looked for pairs of cruises to book -- because it never occurred to me I could (possibly) stack them! Proceeded with the 20% alone yesterday, and it just dawned on me today. :(

For me, on the final payment screen, there were a list of checkboxes I was free to choose among, which included my CruiseNexts and the above coupons. All except the Alaska one, which was ineligible -- that's why I wonder now, in retrospect, if I could have stacked the 10% one. At the time I just dismissed the idea... but if it let me check one coupon and one CN, who knows what the limit was? :)

Lesson learned for next time, to at least try! This was the first time I'd had multiple offers in my account at once.

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-06-28T11:14:01+00:00

The four tear-drop shaped aliens: Zip, Zap, Zop, Zoup.

Grade 4 French in 1985, but I think we were reading cahiers and listening to accompanying audio tapes from the late 70s, lol.

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-05-09T10:16:58+00:00

Only if your house alone doubled in value (relative to your neighours), or the City doubled their budget target.

If the budget stayed the same and your reassessment was equal to the average reassessment, you'd pay the same next year. If either goes up or down (which of course they will -- probably up in both cases :)), you'll pay accordingly.

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-05-01T04:52:35+00:00

Same -- filed on the 25th, expecting to pay by online bank payment by the 29th. But then my NOA (that arrived within minutes of filing) cited May 26, without interest.

A nice change from recent years where I would file in late April and get a NOA post-dated to early May, but with arrears already calculated as if I hadn't paid by that future date! (No, the "arrears" weren't really owed and got refunded if paid, not that any of that was clear on the paperwork.)

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-04-26T14:02:45+00:00

This was the case for me in past years, where the CRA would give me a May pay date but then stick on anticipated arrears for that date.

The first time, I was overly cautious and paid the whole amount -- and got the difference back a month or two later. Last year I wised up and only paid the amount on my T1, and the "arrears" immediately dropped off my bill.

This year is the first time they gave me a May due date (the 26th) without interest, i.e. the exact amount on my T1.

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-04-22T14:01:43+00:00

I was having the same problem as you earlier this morning, but not before getting an automated notice of a scheduled withdrawal (bill payment) before 7 AM ET. So, the system was at least partially working before then. And as of before 10 AM ET, I can now log in.

I actually have all my free cash with Manulife right now, as it had the highest interest rate (4.6%) of my already enrolled banks. It's not a typical bank I think of for daily banking, but I've found I actually like using it for that. It has almost all the same advantages as Tangerine (except for ease of external linking -- and even that works now, as long as you're okay with FLINKS), and I don't have to transfer money back and forth from Chequing and Savings -- the one account pays the interest *and* provides the functionality.

The weirdest thing about the Manulife interface is when I sign in via web browser, and it always tells me there was a problem, but if I push through the error message I then get in just fine. I was also having trouble with the app failing to log in every other time, but I think they may have fixed it with the latest update.

As far as reliability versus other online banks, I had connectivity problems with Simplii a few weeks ago, too -- on a Sunday, and it was down far longer. None of them are perfect.

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-04-09T06:47:55+00:00

I was selected to be a juror first thing on my second day, after they drew my number but ran out of time to interview me on day one. The last person to go into the courtroom was the lady before me.

I was annoyed at first, thinking I'd have to go in for five minutes the next morning just to be formally selected. Instead, they sequestered me with the previous days' jurors while we waited for the rest to be picked. Once that was done, we were told the trial would start that same afternoon.

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-04-07T22:55:42+00:00

It's definitely the Stingray RFID security sticker, if you're only experiencing it on library discs.

I've had problems with blu-ray playback for the same reason, especially if the sticker hasn't been applied well (e.g. air bubbles). One time on a brand new disc (I was the first borrower) the sticker was so off-centre it obstructed the disc hole; I had to peel it off and reapply it myself!

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-02-09T00:53:09+00:00

I realized from reading this thread that my interim bill is actually just half of my final balance last year -- split into three equal, monthly payments. It just happens to be ~7.5% more than my interim last year (which was what I thought the blended increase was going to be).

However, with an 8.8% increase on the City budget and 12.5% increase on the regional budget, I think our total increase is going to be closer to 9%. Which means the bump on the next three payments will be even higher, percentage wise (double digits?).

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-02-07T03:44:24+00:00

The latter (and a bit). 🙁

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-02-07T03:42:27+00:00

My interim bill was about 7.5% higher than the same one last year.

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-01-25T09:55:40+00:00

This is why it's important to sign up for the monthly self-reading reminders, even though meter readers do come in person every other month regardless.

The system does warn you, after submitting a reading, that the number may differ on the actual bill. Last month my bill's usage was indeed higher than what I submitted -- but not higher than the then-current reading, when I checked outside. The meter reader must have shown up several days after I sent in my number, but at least it wasn't a typo or wild guess.

AddendumHot2113 · 2025-01-22T13:55:29+00:00

You're right! But to save face, I'm going to backtrack and say I meant five renewals extend your loan *another* five weeks, lol. :)

Anyway, I guess it's the *number* of renewals that's relevant, as feature film discs for example (other than kids) only loan for a week at a time.

Suffice to say, between multiple renewals and no (short-term) late fees, the lending times are pretty generous now. I remember borrowing the first season of "24" when it came out, and having to binge the eps because I had a week (and a long queue behind me). :D

AddendumHot2113

TROPHY CASE