[ss_stew]

I recently had my commuted value deposited into a brokerage account. About $15000 was supposed to be put in a LIRA and the remaining overage into an RRSP. Upon receiving the money from my pension fund the FI deposited all of the funds into the RRSP account. 1) Should I notify them? 2) Can I get into trouble if I don't? I do plan on using the funds to build for retirement, but not having the funds locked in until 55 and avoiding the accompanying restricted withdrawal percentages is a huge benefit in my mind. I appreciate your input.

 

[Four Pillars]

I recently had my commuted value deposited into a brokerage account. About $15000 was supposed to be put in a LIRA and the remaining overage into an RRSP. Upon receiving the money from my pension fund the FI deposited all of the funds into the RRSP account. 1) Should I notify them? 2) Can I get into trouble if I don't? I do plan on using the funds to build for retirement, but not having the funds locked in until 55 and avoiding the accompanying restricted withdrawal percentages is a huge benefit in my mind. I appreciate your input.

I don't think the government tracks locked-in money (although I could be wrong).

Assuming you just leave the money in the RRSP, I don't think you'll have a problem. Worst case scenario is that someone realizes it should be locked-in and then it becomes locked-in which is what it should have been in the first place.

I would just leave it as is.

 

[OhGreatGuru]

Also, most provinces have implemented a "small amounts Exemption", LIRA's to be transferred to a non-locked in account if they are below a certain amount. In Ontario the limit is 40% of the CPP YMPE, so your $15K would be below the limit. So it is possible that either your pension plan provider or your financial instiutution has adopted a default position of transferring amounts below the threshold to RRSP's. They shouldn't have done it without you being aware of it, in case you wanted to add the funds to an existing LIRA. But otherwise there is likely nothing wrong with it.