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Member Quarterly Q1 2025

Letter from the President and CEO 

Blake's photo 2025

If the first few weeks of 2025 are any indication of the year to come, we will certainly have no shortage of historical moments to navigate this year. While it doesn’t serve us to weigh in on the political rhetoric that exists in the world today, I am reminded that OMERS is a great example of a resilient Canadian success story — an institution that has existed for over 60 years with one proven purpose in mind: to improve the lives of Ontarians. Your Plan has never lost sight of that goal, nor will it now. OMERS is local in its purpose and global in its economic diversity, reach and clout. It is a huge honour to serve as OMERS fifth President and CEO, and I am pleased to report that today OMERS is more resilient as a result of improved funding than it has been for decades. We are in a very strong financial position and able to pay pensions on time and as planned as we always have. A promise is a promise. 

With that in mind, OMERS is entering 2025 well-positioned for the year ahead and remains focused on the things we can control, particularly our commitment to you, our 640,000 members: to deliver a secure, stable and meaningful income in your retirement. 

I am also happy to share with you today that our Plan generated strong results in 2024 with an investment return of 8.3%, or $10.6 billion, net of expenses, exceeding our 7.5% benchmark for the year. Net assets at December 31, 2024 grew to $138.2 billion from $128.6 billion in 2023.

Our strong result in 2024 reflects the quality of our people and portfolio, our active strategic decisions and our steady progress as a long-term investor. I am incredibly proud of the work of our leaders and their teams, as well as the forward-thinking strategies that we have implemented over the last four years as we emerged from the difficult pandemic market dislocation. This combination has generated an average annual net return of 8.1% during that period. Further, our 10-year result of 7.1% speaks to our ability to invest through turbulent times while consistently delivering for our members, paying pensions on time and as planned, as we have done every year since our founding in 1962. 

While we have key investments across the globe that continue to serve us well, I want to remind you that we are proudly Canadian with many high-quality and treasured investments here at home as well. A few of our Canadian holdings include: the Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto; Teranet, Ontario’s and Manitoba’s land registry system; Bruce Power, the world’s largest nuclear power facility, generating 31% of this province’s electricity; Banff Springs and Chateau Lake Louise Hotels in Alberta; and The Stack, a carbon neutral award-winning new office tower that our real estate arm, Oxford Properties, built in Vancouver. These are all significant contributors to their local communities, bring us pride and are globally recognized examples of our Canadian know-how, innovation and commitment. You should be proud that OMERS positively impacts one in 11 Ontario households and our members and retirees are significant drivers of the Ontario economy. 

The following provides an overview of some other key financial, sustainability and service level highlights for 2024:

Financial highlights

As stated above, our Plan generated a 2024 investment return of 8.3%, or $10.6 billion, net of expenses, growing OMERS net assets to $138.2 billion as at December 31, 2024. Over the past 10 years, OMERS has averaged an annual investment return of 7.1%, net of expenses, adding $70.5 billion of value to the Plan. 

The Plan reported a smoothed funded status of 98%, up from 97% in 2023. This includes reducing our discount rate (which has the effect of increasing our liabilities) from 3.75% to 3.70%, which means we are prudently making our Plan assumptions more conservative.  

Our actions to diversify our portfolio, by asset classes and geography, positioned the Plan well in 2024. OMERS public equity investments delivered double-digit performance supported by strong contributions from public and private credit, private equity and infrastructure. Our net investment results benefited from our active strategy to maintain currency exposure to the U.S. dollar. Our real estate assets continue to generate strong operating income but returns were held back due to persistent lower valuations within this sector globally. Our asset mix continued to allocate more towards fixed income opportunities, where return potential remained attractive, with lower risk, on both an absolute and relative basis. Learn more in the press release

Sustainability highlights

As we continue to advance in becoming a leader in sustainable investing, we are on track to achieve net zero carbon emissions in our investment portfolio and operations by 2050. As you may recall, we committed to reducing our portfolio carbon footprint by 20% by 2025 and 50% by 2030, using 2019 levels as a base. This year, I am pleased to report that OMERS achieved a 58% reduction in its portfolio carbon emissions intensity, relative to 2019, and reported an increase in green investments to $23 billion. We remain committed to those goals and practices. For more information on how we define green investments, please refer to the OMERS Climate Taxonomy.  

Service level highlights

Our Pensions team of more than 400 professionals is deeply committed to serving our members and employers, and I am happy to report that we achieved our highest-ever Member Service Satisfaction Rating of 96% for the second year in a row! We are grateful for the trust you put in us as we continue to modernize to serve you better.  

I was very happy to see our services to members continue to advance and improve. That is always our goal and priority. We have been simplifying more of our processes so that when you retire, or make any other career movement, your pension changes are seamless and automated. Our education team continues to connect with members and employers across the province, and this year we launched a new education session, Preparing for your 100-year life, focused on helping members prepare for longer and happier retirements.

As OMERS CEO, one of the highlights of my year is travelling around the great province of Ontario to meet our members, the hardworking heartbeat of our communities. It is always a pleasure to connect with you in person and hear your thoughts on how we are doing and how we can better serve you. We are here to support you at every stage of your career and pension journey, from hire to retire — and beyond! Thank you for your hospitality and inspiration. It is a real privilege to work with and for all of you. 

Closing thoughts

As we look to the future, we are steadfast in our view that quality people, assets and strategies will see us through an unpredictable global landscape and any cycle that comes our way in the future. Within this context, we have established a detailed 2030 Strategy for OMERS. Five overriding points that provide us with a North Star through 2030 for our future are:

  • We will be 100%+ funded

  • We will have $200+ billion in net assets

  • We will be relentlessly focused on investing in 3 strategic geographies: North America, United Kingdom/Europe and Asia Pacific

  • We will have grown a global portfolio of approximately $400+ billion in assets under management (our equity plus, and third-party capital)

  • We will deliver a long-term average 5%+ real return which is equivalent to a nominal return in the 7% to 8% range, which reflects our historical achievements.

These are ambitious but achievable goals to ensure that we are well-positioned financially, operationally and service-wise for the long term. I encourage you to read more about our 2030 Strategy in OMERS 2024 Annual Report, which will be released on February 28. It is written with all of you in mind. 

Thank you again for the work you do to keep Ontario’s communities vibrant, healthy and safe. We are honoured to work on your behalf and will continue to ensure that we can provide a secure and stable income for all of you in your retirement, whenever that may be.

I look forward to seeing many of you at OMERS Annual Meeting on April 9, whether it be in-person or virtually, or sometime soon during one of my visits to communities across Ontario. Until then, I wish you and your families all the best for 2025 and beyond. 

Sincerely,

Blake Hutcheson


OMERS 2024 financial results

As communicated in the Letter from OMERS President and CEO Blake Hutcheson, the Plan generated a 2024 investment return of 8.3%, net of expenses, adding $10.6 billion of investment income to the Plan, growing OMERS net assets to $138.2 billion as at December 31, 2024. 

Over the past 10 years, OMERS has earned an average return of 7.1%, net of expenses, adding $70.5 billion to the Plan. 

We are looking forward to sharing our 2024 Annual Report, which details our performance for the year and provides highlights of the incredible work OMERS is doing on behalf of its members. Visit omers.com on February 28 for the full report. 

OMERS Annual Meeting 

Please join us on April 9 for the OMERS Annual Meeting in Toronto to hear more about our 2024 financial results, strategy for the future and how OMERS is serving members throughout their career journey and retirement. 

This year's meeting will be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre with a simultaneous webcast. In-person attendees can enjoy a hearty pre-meeting breakfast at 7:30 a.m.; opening remarks will begin at 9 a.m. 

OMERS pension experts will also be on hand to answer your individual retirement questions. Don’t miss this informative and engaging event! 

Register now

Pension Awareness Day 

It’s time to start dreaming about what your retirement could mean — and we know having a defined benefit pension can make all the difference. 

With an increasing proportion of the population over the age of 65, having access to a defined benefit pension plan and knowing how to build a solid retirement income foundation have never been more important. With access to secure and stable income for life in retirement, you are free to explore how you want to live out your days, and the sky is the limit! So be bold and consider all the possibilities of how to spend this exciting chapter in your life. OMERS new Preparing for your 100-year life session allows members to begin planning early and consider opportunities like exploring a new career, passion project, volunteering and so much more.

Q1 2025 PAD Image

OMERS recognized Pension Awareness Day on February 20 by hosting an introductory webinar to support members’ career and pension journeys, from hire to retire — and beyond. This lunch-hour session covered the fundamentals of an OMERS pension and key features of the Plan. It also gave an overview of how other retirement income sources, including the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS), can work together with your OMERS pension to provide a solid retirement income foundation.  

Almost 15,000 members signed up for the webinar to take charge of their financial future and get their most pressing retirement questions answered by our team of pension experts.

For additional information about your pension, register for an upcoming in-person session or webinar on our Information sessions & webinars page. 


Ongoing improvements to your pension statement 

In 2024, we launched a significantly modernized pension statement for all members.

The purpose behind modernization was to help you make more informed choices about your pension at every stage of your life. Now you can see all of your important pension information at a glance. With your valuable feedback, we accomplished this by prioritizing key information, simplifying terminology and incorporating a new layout and design to promote understanding.

With a commitment to continuously improving how we serve you, we are now building on the success of last year’s updates with additional changes to the 2024 pension statements for working members, which you will receive by email or mail between now and the end of June, if you haven’t received it already.

The most crucial changes to highlight are on page two:

  • Including the name of your spouse on record. For some members, spousal information may not be on file or may be out-of-date. See our Member FAQs if your pension statement doesn’t show a spouse on record. You can easily update this information directly in your myOMERS account or by contacting OMERS Member Experience.

  • Providing a clearer picture of survivor benefits, with both a personalized overview and a more fulsome, plain language explanation of how survivor benefits work.

We hope these changes help you navigate retirement planning with more clarity and confidence.

Modernizing for members: How we evolved in 2024  

Throughout 2024, OMERS took positive steps to continue improving how we support and engage with you about your pension. Below are some highlights of these accomplishments – just some of the many ways we are embracing change and modernizing to serve you better.

Q1 2025: Connect icon

Connecting with you in new ways

Debuted a successful season two of The Pension Blueprint

The Pension Blueprint is the top defined benefit pension podcast on Spotify in Canada, with over 50,000 listens across seasons one and two – thank you! Featuring insights from internal leaders and external experts, season two successfully explored how Canadians are living much longer and what that means for you at each step of your retirement journey. If you haven’t tuned in to our podcast yet, you are missing out!

Helped you navigate retirement planning with confidence

With research-backed guidance from the National Institute on Ageing, we created a new hub on the member site to help you be more proactive about retirement planning. This new guidance will help you figure out how all the puzzle pieces of a retirement income work together – from a secure foundation of lifetime income via an OMERS pension and government sources like CPP and OAS to other additional savings tools like RRSPs or TFSAs. Learn more by exploring your options for retirement income sources.

Launched new content on the member site

As part of our commitment to help you understand the information you need to know about your pension, we revamped pages on the member site under the Retirement and Life changes categories, refreshing the design and information on topics such as separation and divorce, disability benefits, planning for retirement and more. The updated pages provide you with a better user experience and make it easier for you to find the answers you need. Work is continuing on more content on the member site in 2025. See what's changed on the member site.

Q1 2025 Process icon

Updating our systems and processes

Invested in a smoother, faster pension experience 

In 2024, we modernized to automate two key processes in our system that have a direct impact on how you engage with us to make important decisions about your pension. There are now two new self-serve options in myOMERS to help guide you through your options when you decide to retire or stop working for your employer. Digitizing these processes ensures that moving forward, you will be able to navigate your pension options more efficiently and seamlessly. 

For your information

New tools for the buy-back process in myOMERS 

A buy-back allows you to purchase past service from your previous or current employer that is not currently included as part of your pension calculation. It can increase your total pension amount and may even help you retire earlier. 

We’re excited to share the recent launch of two new tools in myOMERS to help serve you better: the Buy-back Estimator and the Service Confirmation tool. 

Q1 2025 Buy back

Estimate the cost of your buy-back 

The Buy-Back Estimator will provide you with the estimated cost to purchase your previous service. It allows you to input variables such as your salary and how much service you intend to purchase and lets you save up to five estimates to help you review all of your options. 

Confirm your service 

After estimating the cost of your buy-back using the Buy-Back Estimator, you will need to confirm your service using the Service Confirmation tool if you decide to move forward with the purchase. The process includes answering a few questions, including the period of service that you intend to buy back and how long you worked for your previous employer, and completing the required forms. After you submit, OMERS will be in touch to let you know if the service is available to purchase. 

Get started with these Buy-back tools in myOMERS today to help you maximize your pension! 

Don’t have a myOMERS account? 

Creating one is easy! All you need is your email address or phone number and date of birth. We encourage you to sign up with a personal email address so that you always have access to your account, even if you leave your employer. Register now

T4A in myOMERS 

If you contributed to an Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) account by pre-authorized debit or received a monthly OMERS pension payment in 2024, you will be able to view and print your tax slip through your myOMERS account by the end of February. We will also mail your pension tax slip to your home.  

To access your T4A, follow these steps:   

  1. Log in to your myOMERS account  

  2. On your dashboard, click “View reports & statements”  

  3. On the right side of the page, click on the “Reprint income tax slips” button  

  4. Select T4A and print  

Save more for retirement with AVCs 

As an OMERS Plan member, you have the exclusive opportunity to save more for retirement through the Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) program. Similar in some ways to RRSPs, AVCs allow you to invest in the OMERS Fund, the same fund that your pension is invested in. An AVC account is separate from your defined benefit pension and is offered on a cost-recovery basis, which means no profit margin is built into the calculation of the fees and expenses. 

You can contribute to an AVC account through: 

  • Fund transfers: You can make lump-sum transfers during the annual transfer-in window between January 1 and June 30 until the year you turn 70. Fund transfers to your AVC account may come from an RRSP, a locked-in retirement account (LIRA) or other registered retirement vehicles. 

  • Automatic contributions: If you are a working member, you can make automatic contributions via preauthorized debit from your bank account or payroll deductions (if your employer offers this service) to the end of the year you turn 70. Visit our webpage on AVCs to find out your automatic contribution limits. Log in to myOMERS to start, stop or modify your automatic contributions at any time. 

To learn more and discover whether AVCs are right for you, attend one of our upcoming webinars: 

New OMERS Community page 

Q1 2025 Community

Recently, we launched a refreshed version of OMERS Community on omers.com and kicked off a new, recurring series called  The Relatable Economist. 

OMERS Community is an online hub where we share stories from around OMERS with the aim of bringing together our community. We also provide resources from our experts on topics ranging from health and wellness, the economy, technology and more. 

OMERS Community now has three unique categories: 

  • Stories that matter: Interesting stories from across OMERS and our communities. 

  • Experts and insights: Tips and discussions on health, aging well and other topics our experts lend their thoughts on. 

  • The Relatable Economist: Informative, easily digestible stories on how the economy, geopolitics, markets and more are impacting our daily lives. 

Expectant parents wanted!

Q1 2025 Maternity

OMERS is proud to support our members throughout their career and retirement journey. In 2025, we are focused on building tools and modernizing our processes to make it easier for members on leave to ensure that their retirement income remains intact. These changes will be particularly impactful for members taking pregnancy and parental leaves. 

As we prepare our materials for this new process and celebrate all of the families that make up our OMERS community, we are looking for members who are planning on taking a parental leave in 2025 or currently on a parental leave to take part in a photoshoot between June and October. 

If you are working during this time (for example, you are pregnant and planning for your parental leave this year), OMERS can come to your workplace and we are also open to other locations. If you will be on leave during this time, our photographers will come to you and your new child — either at your home or a suitable location nearby, such as a park. Of course, if you have other children, they as well as partners are welcome to take part!    

Participants will be gifted a selection of the best photographs taken by our professional photographer. If you are interested in this opportunity, please complete this form or share this information with any of your colleagues who may be interested. OMERS will be in touch with selected participants by email.   


Join CoCreate and help us improve member experience 

Do you want to help us make your OMERS and retirement experience even better? CoCreate is an active research community for OMERS members to provide feedback on the development of new products and services through focus groups, workshops, surveys and interviews.  

Participation is voluntary and not everyone who signs up will be contacted. Your insights will play a vital role in enhancing our services to provide the best member experience possible.  

Sign up on the CoCreate website or under the communications preferences section of your myOMERS account


Get answers to your pension questions

 

Your OMERS pension is one of your greatest retirement assets and it’s never too early to learn more about it. Our Pension Education & Relationship Management team can answer any questions you may have throughout your pension journey, from hire to retire – and beyond!  

Register for an upcoming webinar or in-person session on the information sessions and webinars page on our member site. Secure your spot soon because space is limited!