News and insights
All the latest information, news and research from the Club Vita Canada team
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VitaMins: Representativeness of data
October 2020
With most of the world still in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic, much attention is now focused on the development of a safe and effective vaccine. Never in our memories have clinical trials received so many column inches and the subject of representativeness of sample data is top of many minds.
Read more ...20201007
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Introducing Club Vita Canada’s longevity map
July 2020
In 2020, we are more conscious than ever of our health. Wearing masks, keeping our distance and washing hands non-stop have become a part of our daily lives in a way that would have been inconceivable just months ago
Read more ...20200707
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VitaMins Health: Mental health – looking after body and mind
June 2020
It is widely accepted that the mind and body are closely interlinked. In this article we look at the link between mental and physical health patterns and how these may influence future longevity trends.
Read more ...20200618
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Has COVID-19 increased Canadian mortality?
AUTHORED BY RICHARD BROWN, May 8, 2020
Over the past two weeks Club Vita UK has put out a number of blogs detailing the devastating impact COVID-19 has had in the United Kingdom, resulting in a significant increase in UK deaths at an overall population level. The fact that detailed data regarding all UK deaths is available weekly (i.e., not just those due to COVID-19) has allowed a much better understanding of the severity of the pandemic in the UK, including the identification of COVID-19 deaths not captured in the official numbers.
Read more ...20200508
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VitaMins Health: Vitamin D– The “sunshine” vitamin
March 2020
Dietary sources of Vitamin D are limited, with around 90% of our usual intake coming from sunlight. Does our current lifestyle and diet through the winter months provide us with sufficient resources for a long and heathy life?
Read more ...20200303
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VitaMins Health: Getting clued-up on the flu
October 2019
Every year significantly more people die during the winter months than at other times of the year, and we have recently seen huge variability in ‘excess winter deaths’, potentially impacted by the severity of the flu.
Read more ...20191001
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Are Canadians continuing to live longer?
AUTHORED BY EUAN REID & RICHARD BROWN, July 26,2019
In May 2019, Statistics Canada reported that “Life expectancy stops increasing in Canada”, since, for the first time in more than forty years, Canadian life expectancy at birth (for both men and women) did not increase from 2016 to 2017. The Statistics Canada report stated that this trend change was “largely attributable to the opioid crisis”, especially “among Canadian men aged 20 to 44 years.” Despite this concerning development, life expectancy for Canadians aged 65 did continue to increase. Read more ...
20190626
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‘Til death do us part: does the 3-year rule always hold true?
AUTHORED BY ALON HALBRICH, May 22, 2019
For many members in defined benefit pension plans, monthly benefits are not only paid for as long as the retirees live, but also then paid to surviving spouses for as long as they live. Read more ...
20190522
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Feeling the heat?
AUTHORED BY EUAN REID, October 22, 2018
Last year, when I told my British friends and colleagues I was moving to Canada, the most common reaction (aside from “good riddance”) was “it’s cold there, isn’t it?”. They might have been shocked to learn of the very unfortunate reports that there were up to 70 deaths caused by the July heatwave in Quebec this year. Read more ...
20181022
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Quality of life: impacts on future longevity?
AUTHORED BY JENNIFER URQUHART, August 25, 2018
We often look at significant medical advances that extend life as likely contributors to further improvements in longevity. But, could additional improvements in both health and life expectancy also be gained through advances that enhance the quality of life for the elderly? Read more ...
20180825
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Why hedging logevity risk may be right for your plan (Benefits and Pensions Monitor, Dec 13, 2017)
Whether it's converting to defined contribution (DC) plans, evolving investment strategies, developing glide-paths or annuitizing inactive members, risk mitigation has become ingrained in the Canadian DB pension industry. But despite this evolution, there is one risk that hasn't yet received its fair share of attention: longevity risk.
Reprinted with permission from Benefits and Pensions Monitor.
20171213
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Key findings from Club Vita Canada's first annual study of defined benefit pensioner logevity
This research summary explores the key findings of Club Vita Canada's inaugural study of Canadian pensioner longevity.
20170601
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Increasing Lifespans: A Pension Plan’s True Longevity Risk (The Observer, 2017 Issue 1)
Increasing longevity is good news for the global population – but it’s a significant risk for pension plan sponsors, since how long people will live after retirement is a key determinant of a plan’s cost.
Reprinted with permission from the ACPM.
20170101
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How would a universal cancer vaccine affect Canadian pension plans? (June 2016)
The science journal Nature recently published a paper regarding the positive progress of scientists working on a universal cancer vaccine. If such a vaccine were ever created, it would obviously have immense implications—not the least of which is longer, healthier lives for Canadians.
20160601
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A Deeper Look at Longevity Risk (The Observer, 2016 Spring)
The average Canadian life span has increased dramatically over the past century. In fact, men in B.C. now enjoy a life expectancy in line with that of the longest lived OECD countries. Slowly but surely, the number of years Canadians spend in retirement and the number of years they spend at work have begun to equalize. But a longer retirement comes at a higher cost for defined benefit (DB) plan sponsors – and the heightened risk of individuals in defined contribution plans outliving their retirement savings. This means longevity risk should be understood, measured and managed better by pension plan sponsors.
Reprinted with permission from the ACPM.
20160401
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Where Canadians live may have a significant impact on how long they'll live (March 2016)
There’s an old actuarial joke in which someone finds himself treading water in the middle of a 10-foot-deep lake, after being told by an actuary that the lake was five feet deep on average. Averages can help you test the waters. But a proper understanding of your environment often requires a deeper dive.
20160301
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Do policies that encourage later retirement impact some workers more than others? (Feb 2016)
Rising life expectancies have led policymakers to prompt people to work more years, to better fund longer retirements. In particular, the normal retirement age for both Old Age Security in Canada and U.S. Social Security will gradually increase from 65 to 67 in the coming years. The U.K. has announced similar plans, and intends additional increases based on future improvements in life expectancy.
20160201