BMO Financial Group has created a national institute aimed at giving Canadian boomers access to academic research on trends that may impact their retirement, the firm announced today.

The BMO Retirement Institute will focus on issues impacting boomers approaching retirement. BMO said the Institute will analyze issues such as care-giving, managing health, and the challenges of living retirement as a single person.

The Institute was developed under the guidance of BMO’s Advisory Council on Retirement, a panel of Canadians representing various fields of relevant expertise and experience, which began in 2006.

“BMO has made it a priority to convey to Canadians that the nature of retirement has changed,” said Mel Cappe, chairman of the BMO Advisory Council on Retirement. “New information about planning for and living in retirement regularly emerges from Canada’s academic centres, much of it extremely relevant for how retirees and pre-retirees plan for this phase of their life. Providing access to this research will encourage boomers to think more broadly about how they prepare for retirement.”

According to today’s announcement, the Institute is launching a series of brief reports called “Connecting Insights” that will introduce Canadians to issues associated with retirement. The first of these reports is called “Assuming More Responsibility for Retirement,” and aims to provide an introduction to the changing nature of retirement, highlighting recent shifts in pension plan trends and the importance of ensuring retirees have enough money to last them through what has become a lengthier life stage. This report also looks at the efficacy of some of today’s financial planning products.

“As boomers head closer to retirement, it’s important for them to develop a concrete plan to manage their savings and investments carefully during retirement,” says Kris Vikmanis, head of retirement market at BMO. “Accumulation and saving is the first part of the retirement planning equation—it’s equally important to understand your expenses in retirement, in order to structure your resources to generate the appropriate cash flow.”