From Pension Valuation to Product Innovation

Growing up, I loved solving complex questions and equations and always knew I wanted to have a career that involved mathematics. A high school math teacher who was also an actuary inspired me to pursue a degree in actuarial science.

I went on to spend the first 23 years of my career as a consulting pension actuary. I always enjoyed interacting with others, and this was an extrovert mathematician’s dream come true. I worked closely with a variety of stakeholders (plan sponsors, pension committees and plan members) to strategize and manage risk within corporate pension plans and educate teams, pension committees and plan members on pension plans.

Helping Canadians prepare for retirement

What became apparent to me throughout the years is Canadians’ lack of retirement readiness. Statistics show that four in 10 Canadians have less than $5,000 in savings and almost a quarter have no savings at all.¹ It is therefore no wonder that only 29% of Canadians are confident that they will maintain their standard of living in retirement.² In fact, one in four unretired Canadians expect to continue working in retirement to support themselves.³

Figure 1: 4 in 10 Canadians have less than $5,000 in savings and almost a quarter have no savings at all.

Source: HOOPP Canadian Retirement Survey June 2024.

I believe strong financial literacy is one way to improve retirement readiness. Financial literacy boosts confidence and contributes to the ability to save for retirement.⁴ Increased financial literacy improves individuals’ understanding of government programs and personal savings accounts. As a result, workers are empowered to make informed decisions regarding retirement savings and manage their money effectively. Moreover, literacy surrounding longevity is positively correlated with retirement readiness.⁵ Having an understanding of the probability of living to certain ages and how this may need to be incorporated into one’s retirement planning process can greatly contribute to being prepared for retirement.

Retirement literacy and fluency increase as retirement nears.⁶ This is often a result of proximity to retirement and having close family and friends in that same stage of life, which can prompt individuals to seek more information and increase their retirement knowledge.

Figure 2: Retirement Fluency

Percentage of retirement-related questions answered correctly

Source: 2024 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index.

Member engagement, in the context of retirement readiness, is a strong contributor to saving more. In this context, engagement refers to the active involvement and commitment of individuals to prepare for a financially secure and sustainable retirement and the proactive steps taken to achieve retirement goals. In today’s world, digital engagement translates into better retirement outcomes. Members who are digitally engaged contribute 60% more to their savings accounts than those who aren’t online and see an average balance more than 2 times higher than those who are not engaged.⁷ Interactive digital engagement can be in the form of retirement calculators and personalized dashboards and allows individuals to explore retirement scenarios and make data-driven decisions. These sorts of dynamic interactions enable individuals to proactively monitor their progress toward retirement.

With a clear link between engagement and retirement readiness, engagement strategies have become a central focus when considering retirement planning. An innovative engagement strategy is Singapore’s Community Paying it Forward Campaign,⁸ which was launched in 2021 to help shape members’ perception of the country’s retirement system fund (Central Provident Fund) by using a volunteer-driven approach for advocacy and feedback. Volunteers share information to help others better understand the fund and make informed decisions about the use of their savings. They can also participate in focus groups and user testing for new services, which gives members a greater sense of ownership and affinity, and enables the fund to strengthen its offerings. This social exercise put members in the driver’s seat by amplifying their voices and seeking their feedback when it comes to their federal retirement plan.

I believe access to an affordable retirement savings arrangement could go a long way toward helping Canadians improve retirement readiness. In fact, according to the HOOPP Canadian Retirement Survey from June 2024, 88% of Canadians believe all workers should have access to such an arrangement, and most Canadians would pay for this. Moreover, access to workplace pension plans improves retirement literacy. Research conducted by the Canadian Public Pension Leadership Council (CPPLC) shows that individuals with access to workplace pension plans have more retirement knowledge, better understand government retirement benefits and have a greater willingness to contribute to obtain future goals.

Figure 3: HOOPP Canadian Retirement Survey June 2024

Source: HOOPP Canadian Retirement Survey June 2024.

While access to retirement savings arrangements, strong financial literacy, and active member engagement are all independently contributing factors for retirement preparedness, together they form a strong foundation for one’s financial well-being.

My journey to innovation

In my quest to help Canadians retire better while pursuing my passion for pensions and people, I joined the CAAT Pension Plan. As the Director of Product Innovation, I would be developing products and initiatives addressing plan member and market needs while opening new strategic opportunities for the Plan.

It was the same pension world I had lived in and loved for the past 23 years, but I would be operating from a completely different perspective. Thus began my metamorphosis from pension valuation (and a technical maths person) to product innovation.

The time I had previously spent optimizing plan sponsor contributions and evaluating various risk mitigation strategies was now largely dedicated to researching Canadians’ perceptions of retirement, the market and product gaps in this space and helping to develop global innovation strategies.

I replaced the tools I had used, such as reviewing Excel spreadsheets and actuarial valuation results, with article reading, attendance at conferences and discussions with industry leaders.

And while my days were now spent quite differently, the critical thinking skills and in-depth pension knowledge I had gained as a consulting actuary helped shape my strategic thinking and the lens through which I viewed and explored innovation. The analytical skills I had honed now helped me efficiently sift through research and surveys in order to glean the salient themes, what those mean for different cohorts and how certain offerings can address these.

Developing a new product

Since joining CAAT in 2022, I have been part of the team developing a product that launched to plan members in October 2024 (GROWTHplus Savings Account). It is along this path that “technical Lilach” transformed into “product innovation Lilach.” As I challenged myself every day to see through the lens of a product innovator, I was forced to expand beyond being a technical actuary.

Beyond the technical aspects of pension law that set  a product’s parameters in terms of its permissible benefits and limits, I moved into the world of what will impact the member experience and how best to communicate product features and considerations.

Even my go-to acronyms were expanding. My daily references to the PBA (Pension Benefits Act) and ITA (Income Tax Act) now also included CTA (call to action).

Developing innovation skills through the three Cs of thinking

As an actuary shifting to a nontechnical and somewhat nontraditional role, I found developing and refining the following 3 skills to be invaluable:

1. Critical thinking. As pension actuaries, we are trained to analyze data and actuarial results and translate those into a meaningful strategy for plan sponsors. This transferable skill helped me connect the dots between different ideas and situations, identify inconsistencies, and resolve challenges effectively and efficiently, using hard data and analysis to arrive at conclusions.
2. Creative thinking. Thinking outside the box, from a new and perhaps unconventional perspective provided me with inspiration. While this was a very different thought process than what I had been used to, this sort of exploration was key when seeking innovative solutions that encompass both technical rules and requirements as well as behavioral economics to help shape best outcomes for members.
3. Cultivating thinking. I think it’s important to continue to expand one’s knowledge and networks. We are all solving for the same scenarios and understanding other professionals’ challenges, solutions and application of lessons learned is often the catalyst for innovation.

Evolving in a nontraditional actuarial role

Actuaries have deep technical capabilities combining mathematics, statistics, finance and risk management, which help them analyze complex data, develop predictive models and solve problems. Increasingly, nontraditional roles rely on technical acumen as a foundation for innovation and strategic foresight. The strong technical foundation that is developed as a consulting actuary and a drive to explore a whole new way of approaching retirement readiness can pave the way to innovation.

Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries or the respective authors’ employers.

Copyright © 2025 by the Society of Actuaries, Chicago, Illinois.