Ontario is considering a significant change to the rules governing pension money that former employees have moved into certain personal retirement accounts. It could offer people more flexibility over savings that are now largely locked until specific conditions are met. The proposal matters to benefits administrators because questions about a pension don't necessarily end when someone leaves the workplace or transfers money out of a plan. Under the draft rules, an owner of an Ontario regulated life income fund or locked retirement income fund could seek to unlock all of the money after reaching the earliest date when a pension could have begun under the plan from which the money came. This is not a universal entitlement to withdraw at age 55. The original pension plan and the account's regulatory jurisdiction would still matter. Owners of some small locked retirement accounts could also qualify at any age if the combined amount held in the relevant Ontario locked accounts falls below 40% of the year's maximum pensionable earnings. That threshold is $29,840 for 2026.
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