Canada held onto its sixth place ranking in the 2013 Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index in large part because of the country’s diversified retirement planning options, including professional financial advice.

“We do have a really strong system,” says Scott Clausen, partner, retirement risk and finance, Mercer, in Toronto. “One of its strengths is we don’t relay on a single source of income. We have a good multi-pillared approach but there are areas for improvement, in particular with the savings rates of middle income households.”

In this year’s index, Canada received a “B” grade with a ranking of 67.9, a slight drop from last year’s 69.2. Denmark ranked first in the index followed by the Netherlands and Australia.

One of the ways in which to give middle-income retirement savings a boost, according to Clausen, is through changes to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). Clausen believes that any possible changes should focus on increasing the level of earnings covered by the CPP (such as a doubling of the maximum pensionable earnings), that the single contribution and benefit rates should be kept on all earnings covered by the CPP and that there employee contributions should be tax deductions rather than tax credits.

Even with improvements to the CPP, however, financial advisors will still be needed to help fill the gaps in Canadians’ retirement savings. “Government programs are never intended to provide for all retirement income needs especially when you start talking about middle income earners and above,” he says. “So, advisors are always going to need to look at how to work within a clients needs and wants.”

The index also notes that defined contribution (DC) plans are becoming more common throughout the world. In Canada, most people with DC plans are still in the workforce, says Clausen, meaning that in future there will be more and more people needing advice on how to make the most of these plans.

“There will be a large role for financial advisors to guide those individuals as they approach retirement on how to make sure those assets provide lifetime benefits,” said Clausen. “The key is really going to be making sure there are methods, products and ways to help individuals transition to retirement.”

Now in its fifth year, the index looks at the publically funded and private components of retirement systems in 20 countries and measures the adequacy, sustainability and integrity of a country’s pension system.