Retirement and Savings Program

Registered Fund Unit Values

AFBS offers two retirement fund options to Members for both the Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and the Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF).

The General Fund is a balanced fund offering a mix of bonds and domestic and foreign equities. The Bond Fund is a 100% Canadian bond fund providing a more conservative alternative to Members who wish to avoid the volatility of the equity markets. A summary of the funds follows.

• Fund performance information is included in quarterly publications Your Money Matters and Your RRIF Report
• Six external professional investment fund managers manage the funds. The investment strategy used by each manager emphasizes a conservative, prudent approach with the objective of providing consistent, competitive performance returns over the long-term;
• The Board of Governors, management and an external advisor ensure the appropriate oversight procedures are in place to ensure effective governance of the retirement funds.

Since June 2004, the Society has allocated the fees paid to investment managers directly to the RRSP funds (RRIF’s are not charged). This allocation has resulted in a reduction in the rate of return going forward equal to less than 1/2 of one percentage point (e.g. Before this allocation, if the fund returned 10% for the year, then after this allocation, the fund will return 9.5% for the year.). This allocation resulted in additional monies being made available to provide a Fraternal Premium Subsidy to Members to offset the rising costs of insurance and decreasing Guild Subsidy.