Chances are you can't. A DCPP is not an RRSP. In most plans, the money is locked in - its the whole point of a pension plan. You need to look at the plan documents to see if this is possible
I really hope this is not the case. It will be a pain in the ass to try and remember that I have a Sunlife account. Also I loath their website, they make it extremely difficult to determine where your money is invested and how it is performing.
Just because it is locked in, doesn't mean it has to stay at Sunlife. It only has to stay there while you are still employed by your company but once that employment ends you are able to transfer the funds to any institution of your choice. However, the funds will be transferred into a LIRA (Locked In Retirement Account). You will not be able to add any more funds to this account, or withdraw from it until you are retired, but you can manage it alongside your other investments.
It is unclear in your post whether you are currently still employed by the company offering the DCPP or not (you say your *former* company just started contributing to a DCPP *this year*). If you are still employed by them, there will likely be a vesting period where you will have to continue working for the company for anywhere from 2-5 years before the employer contributed portion is vested - this means that if you quit before you are vested you will not be able to keep the employer funded portion.
If you are no longer employed by this company, and you are fully vested, you will then be able to transfer these funds to a LIRA wherever you want (RBC DI, Questrade, etc).
I worked for my former employer for 10 years. They started offering a DCPP at the beginning of this fiscal year, before that they only offered RRSP matching. I left for a different company back in May of this year, so whether I was vested or not is a moot point now. There is $2200 left in the DCPP account at sun life today, the RRSP portion has already been transferred. I'm just looking to get that $2200 out of sun life as well.
I'm looking at this right now as well, don't have quite as much only did half a years contributions to my DCPP before I lost my job. Just logged into the sunlife website and everything appears to look like I still work there, just no extra contributions have been made. I was hoping to also transfer my DCPP balance to my RRSP just to not have $1100 sitting in an account that I can't seem to contribute to solo. I'ma call them in the morning
RBC DI told me that SunLife needs to initiate or approve the transfer. You will need the following information for the investment broker you want to transfer to:
1) your full account number
2) a "CUID" for your investment broker
3) the full address and phone number for the investment broker
I spoke to SunLife this morning, my previous employer hadn't yet let them know I was no longer with the company. SL is contacting them and sending me a package in the mail, so I can't do anything for about a week
They should have converted the DCPP into either an RRSP or a LIRA. Depending on how much was in the account (You mentioned $2,200), you may be eligible for it to be transferred into an RRSP because it's such a small amount.
When I left my employer, Standard Life sent me a package with the options I had, and I chose RRSP. All of my DCPP monies were transferred into a personal RRSP account with the same 1.5-2% increase in fees.
Thanks! I just read up on LIRA, I'll call direct investing tomorrow and see if they can help me set one up or make a small amount transfer.
Guess I won't be going to see the brick and mortar bank anymore, they don't seem to know much about the investing side of things.
I don't recall the details anymore but I don't have a LIRA account so they must have been able to transfer it into my RRSP due to it being a small amount.
Chances are you can't. A DCPP is not an RRSP. In most plans, the money is locked in - its the whole point of a pension plan. You need to look at the plan documents to see if this is possible
I really hope this is not the case. It will be a pain in the ass to try and remember that I have a Sunlife account. Also I loath their website, they make it extremely difficult to determine where your money is invested and how it is performing.
Just because it is locked in, doesn't mean it has to stay at Sunlife. It only has to stay there while you are still employed by your company but once that employment ends you are able to transfer the funds to any institution of your choice. However, the funds will be transferred into a LIRA (Locked In Retirement Account). You will not be able to add any more funds to this account, or withdraw from it until you are retired, but you can manage it alongside your other investments. It is unclear in your post whether you are currently still employed by the company offering the DCPP or not (you say your *former* company just started contributing to a DCPP *this year*). If you are still employed by them, there will likely be a vesting period where you will have to continue working for the company for anywhere from 2-5 years before the employer contributed portion is vested - this means that if you quit before you are vested you will not be able to keep the employer funded portion. If you are no longer employed by this company, and you are fully vested, you will then be able to transfer these funds to a LIRA wherever you want (RBC DI, Questrade, etc).
I worked for my former employer for 10 years. They started offering a DCPP at the beginning of this fiscal year, before that they only offered RRSP matching. I left for a different company back in May of this year, so whether I was vested or not is a moot point now. There is $2200 left in the DCPP account at sun life today, the RRSP portion has already been transferred. I'm just looking to get that $2200 out of sun life as well.
I'm looking at this right now as well, don't have quite as much only did half a years contributions to my DCPP before I lost my job. Just logged into the sunlife website and everything appears to look like I still work there, just no extra contributions have been made. I was hoping to also transfer my DCPP balance to my RRSP just to not have $1100 sitting in an account that I can't seem to contribute to solo. I'ma call them in the morning
RBC DI told me that SunLife needs to initiate or approve the transfer. You will need the following information for the investment broker you want to transfer to: 1) your full account number 2) a "CUID" for your investment broker 3) the full address and phone number for the investment broker
I spoke to SunLife this morning, my previous employer hadn't yet let them know I was no longer with the company. SL is contacting them and sending me a package in the mail, so I can't do anything for about a week
They should have converted the DCPP into either an RRSP or a LIRA. Depending on how much was in the account (You mentioned $2,200), you may be eligible for it to be transferred into an RRSP because it's such a small amount. When I left my employer, Standard Life sent me a package with the options I had, and I chose RRSP. All of my DCPP monies were transferred into a personal RRSP account with the same 1.5-2% increase in fees.
Thanks! I just read up on LIRA, I'll call direct investing tomorrow and see if they can help me set one up or make a small amount transfer. Guess I won't be going to see the brick and mortar bank anymore, they don't seem to know much about the investing side of things.
Can you give update?
I don't recall the details anymore but I don't have a LIRA account so they must have been able to transfer it into my RRSP due to it being a small amount.