'We see it as an opportunity but also a risk that needs to be addressed,' says Manulife's Marc-Antoine Morin
While plan members may be watching their investment statements climb, defined contribution (DC) expert at Manulife Marc‑Antoine Morin isn’t seeing the relief most employers or employees would expect.
The assistant vice president of product and platform development for group retirement at Manulife was quick to highlight some of the key findings in Manulife’s latest longevity report. He noted he expected Canadians’ financial indicators to look stronger after years of solid markets and easing inflation but that didn’t happen.
And while worries about debt have eased, the broader financial picture hasn’t turned the corner he anticipated. Workers are living longer but not necessarily feeling more secure. Morin argues that for plan sponsors, the first step is to confront what longevity means in practical terms. The industry still likes to talk about life expectancy “at birth,” but that metric hides the reality for people who make it to retirement.
“Longevity can be perceived in a positive or negative way, depending on how you look at it. I think society likes to think of longevity in a positive lens because longevity means you have the opportunity to live more years. But I think maybe before we actually get to the positives around longevity we need to think about the implications of it. We see it as an opportunity but also a risk that needs to be addressed. And if you do address that risk, then it becomes an opportunity,” said Morin.
He argues that before celebrating longer lives, individuals and plan sponsors need to confront what those extra years demand, which often mean more money, different choices about how to use time, and a plan for health challenges. While the financial side is the obvious starting point as “more years mean you need to fund more money,” he said, he emphasized that longevity also reshapes the “trifecta of health, wealth, and social component of retirement.”
“All of these components of your retirement are going to evolve differently as you age and as you live longer. And they might not do it at the same pace either. So that’s why I think longevity is key to retirement planning,” he added.
Morin argues that plan sponsors don’t have many easy structural levers left, especially in a world dominated by DC plans rather than traditional defined benefits (DB) plans. Simply telling employers to increase the contribution rate isn’t realistic in his view, so he shifts the focus to communication and education instead.
Even if employers don't want to be involved in the post-retirement phase, Morin underscored they still have a responsibility and an opportunity to help members understand longevity. One of the biggest gaps, he suggests, is how life expectancy is framed as he believes people often hear the standard figure at birth, but that changes once someone actually reaches retirement.
“When people retire on average at age 65, your life expectancy has increased at that moment,” he said, noting that “now we’re talking more about 86 for men and 89 for women.”
That extra three to six years of life is also three to six more years that need to be funded. For Morin, this is where plan sponsors can step up: by educating members about what longevity really means, and what they can do about it across financial, health, and lifestyle dimensions, not just through contributions alone.
Morin thinks education is the real lever for changing financial outcomes. When people better understand their situation and options, they are more likely to take action, whether that means adjusting their own behaviour or seeking professional advice.
From a plan sponsor’s perspective, he doesn’t see simply increasing pension contributions as a practical or sufficient solution, nor as a guaranteed way to ease financial anxiety. Instead, he argues that the core of the response should be education, supported by tools and resources that help members navigate their finances.
At the same time, he acknowledged that many employers have shrinking internal capacity to invest in financial wellness. That’s why he stressed the role of external partners such as group retirement providers, who can step in to deliver education and support at scale. For him, the goal isn’t for sponsors to endlessly “do more” on their own, but to collaborate with specialized organizations that can provide these services efficiently, often at low or even no direct cost to the employer.
Morin acknowledged that engaging younger generations on retirement issues is inherently difficult. He argues that the starting point is recognizing that different age groups have different needs and priorities, not just financially but more broadly.
For the next generation of workers, the priority in plan design is flexibility rather than locking everything into long-term vehicles. He thinks traditional DC plans, where both employer and employee contributions are tied up for decades, do little to ease financial stress because employees see that money as inaccessible and irrelevant to their immediate needs.
Additionally, Morin underscored that talking about “retirement” is the wrong framing. Instead, he wants the focus to shift to savings and habit-building - helping people develop the discipline of setting money aside, regardless of whether it goes into a retirement plan, RRSP, TFSA, or another vehicle. He believes strengthening those saving “muscles” today is what will eventually support retirement readiness, even if the immediate goal isn’t explicitly retirement.
“Talk about building a wealth and making them richer. Changing the tone has been very effective there,” he said.
He also stressed that the communication channels need to evolve, particularly as traditional tools like email don’t resonate with many younger people. He sees more potential in short, easily consumable video content like TikTok or Youtube and Instagram reels that capture attention quickly.
While he’s realistic that these brief videos won’t overhaul financial literacy on their own, he believes they can spark initial interest and then direct viewers to deeper, more substantive resources.
According to Morin, reaching younger generations will require trying new formats, repeating efforts, and systematically tracking what actually works in terms of engagement and outcomes, then refining campaigns and education programs based on those results.
Ultimately, Morin emphasized the core message for plan sponsors is to stop assuming their current approach is good enough and actively question it, underscoring employers should be actively digging into their own plan data by age group and “challenging status quo,” asking themselves, “Am I doing the right thing… for my employees? Should I do more?” he said, adding the impact of that support for both young and generational workers “can be life changing.”
