Fifty-one per cent Canadians who contribute to a company pension plan are unsure whether their plan is a defined benefit or defined contribution plan, according to a recent Decima Research survey.

Less than half of that same group knows what their pension plan will pay during retirement.

While members of defined benefit pension plans are guaranteed a specific amount during retirement, often based on salary and years of service, individuals with defined contribution plans face greater uncertainty: a certain amount of money is contributed to the plan each year, but benefits paid may change based on a number of factors.

“Canadians need to be proactive in learning about employer pension plans” says David Ablett, Investors Group’s Senior Tax and Retirement Planning Specialist. “Every pension is different and it’s important to understand how yours works, and just how much income it will generate during retirement.”

Canadians can also benefit from getting creative and looking beyond traditional retirement savings vehicles. Only 15% of Canadians will use insurance as a source of retirement income, and only 17% will use annuities.

“Everyone’s situation is different and there are many ways to solve the retirement riddle,” says Ablett. “It is important for individuals to take stock of their sources of income in retirement as a whole as opposed to in isolation.”

Other sources of retirement income reported in the survey include the Canada Pension Plan (74%), RRSPs (75%) and other personal investments (57%).

The Decima data were gathered between Oct. 20 and 30, 2006, through Decima eVox. Results are based on a sample of 2,170 Canadians, and the corresponding margin of error is 2.2%, 19 times out of 20.