Canadian Retirement Planner

Tax uses 2026 federal and provincial or territorial rates for one person, or for each of two people, including the basic personal amounts, the age and pension credits, the Canada employment amount ($1,501, on pay and part-time income), the Ontario surtax and health premium, Quebec's 16.5% federal abatement, and the OAS recovery tax. Brackets are assumed to rise with inflation. It ignores income splitting, dividend credits, provincial supplements to GIS, other provincial credits and benefits for seniors, locked-in limits on DC plans (a LIRA is treated like a DC plan with no new savings added, so its withdrawals are fully taxable and it is drawn before the RRSP, but its withdrawals are held to the yearly LIF maximum from age 55 unless you turn that off; Quebec and Saskatchewan have no maximum, and one-time unlocking is not modelled), unused TFSA room, and market swings. Quebec residents receive QPP instead of CPP, which this page treats the same way. Growth in non-registered accounts is treated as capital gains, taxed only when you withdraw. The account's cost starts at its value now minus the gain you enter, and rises with money you add or reinvest. Each withdrawal is split between gain and return of your own cost in the same proportion as the account as a whole, and half of the gain part is added to taxable income. Interest, dividends and fund distributions are not taxed each year, there is no dividend credit, and capital losses are not modelled. CPP, OAS and your DB pension are assumed to rise with inflation.

The past-markets result replays every historical starting year that fits your plan length, using that year's actual returns and the actual change in consumer prices. The stock share you choose is rebalanced each year, with fees of 0.5% on stocks and 0.1% on bonds. The stock mix you choose, by default an equal third each of Canada, the US and international developed markets, uses the S&P/TSX Composite, the US S&P 500 with dividends and the MSCI EAFE index, with no currency effect. The EAFE figures are compiled from published annual returns for 1970 to 2025 and may differ slightly from the official index. TSX dividends are estimated: price changes are from Wikipedia and the dividends are fitted so that the published total returns for 1980 to 2025 are matched, with estimated yields before 1980. Bonds use US 10-year Treasury returns as a stand-in for Canadian bonds, and inflation is Canadian CPI, December to December. With Canadian stocks, history starts in 1946, so a 41-year plan has 39 starting years; with the equal mix it starts in 1970, which leaves 16. A start year succeeds when your after-tax spending is paid every year to your plan age. The stretches overlap and all share the same history, and returns over this period were above the long-run assumptions most planners use, so this tends to give higher success rates than the simulated markets.

The planner tries RRSP and DC plan withdrawals that fill your taxable income up to a set level each year, with extra cash moved into your TFSA and then non-registered savings, plus plain non-registered-first and RRSP-first plans. It keeps a plan that lasts to your plan age, prefers one that avoids the OAS recovery tax, and then picks the one that leaves the most after tax. If no plan lasts, it keeps the one that lasts longest. Money left in the RRSP and DC plan is taxed as if cashed out in one year.

The optional holding company is simplified. Each year the company pays tax on interest at the top general corporate rate for your province (about 50% with the refundable part), on half of any capital gain it realizes, and on Canadian dividends it receives through a refundable tax that returns when it pays you a taxable dividend. You are paid non-eligible dividends, grossed up 15% with the dividend tax credit, after the tax-free part of capital gains. It does not model business income, salary, the small-business rate, the lifetime capital gains exemption, life insurance in the company or eligible dividends. Speak with an accountant before using a holding company in real plans.

The chance of success comes from 1,000 simulated markets. In each one, every year's return is random, centred on the return you entered and spread by the swing you chose, and the recommended withdrawal plan is followed. By default the return you enter is the typical yearly return, so the middle simulated outcome follows the plan line. You can switch it to mean an average return, which gives lower success rates. A run succeeds when your savings and pensions pay your after-tax spending every year to your plan age. If you allow spending cuts, each year of a simulated market first checks whether the savings would still last to your plan age at full spending with steady returns from where they stand. If not, that year's spending drops by the amount you chose, and success means at least the reduced amount is paid every year. If you choose to restore spending after a run of good markets, a cut stays in place until the simulated or historical returns, after inflation, have beaten the level you set for that many years in a row since the cut. The chart of how much you can spend repeats the simulation at spending levels from 40% to 140% of your target, with 400 markets for each, and reads off the spending that gives about an 80% and a 60% chance. Inflation, CPP, OAS and tax rules are held steady, and returns are treated as independent from year to year, so real-world risk can be higher than shown.

The earliest retirement age is found by trying each retirement age from today up to 75 (or one year before the plan age), running 400 simulated markets for each, and choosing the withdrawal plan again for each age. It reports the earliest age whose chance of success reaches the level you choose, and it assumes the chance rises as you retire later, so it searches by halving the range and then checks the ages around the answer. Contributions stop at the retirement age, while pensions start at the ages you entered. For a couple, your retirement age moves and your partner's moves by the same number of years, and the answer gives both ages.

The planner works in today's dollars throughout. The future-dollar figures (on the summary boxes, the account balances at retirement, the yearly table and the savings chart) are today's dollars grown by the expected inflation you enter, counted from this year, so the amount for year 10 is multiplied by (1 + inflation) to the power of 10. Changing the inflation figure changes only those displayed amounts, not the plan, the tax or the chance of success. Part-time income is a yearly amount before tax, in today's dollars, that each person earns from their own retirement age until the age they give. It is taxed as that person's income, counts towards OAS recovery tax and GIS, and covers part of the household's spending, so less is drawn from savings. It does not add to the savings you add each year. The optional later-life spending cut multiplies the spending target by 75% from age 80 (the older of two people) to the end of the plan. The "What would move the needle" box tests one change at a time on top of your plan: retiring one or two years later, saving $5,000 more a year until you retire, starting OAS or CPP at 70, earning 0.5% more a year, a $100,000 windfall at retirement, and allowing spending to be cut by up to 10%. Each change gets the same 400 simulated markets, and the table shows the chance of success and the change in points. The last row combines the changes other than the spending cut. Changes that do not apply to your inputs, for example OAS at 70 when it already starts at 70, are left out. The best age to start CPP is found by trying each start age from the person's retirement age (never before 60) up to 70, choosing the withdrawal plan again for each, and keeping the age that leaves the most after tax at the plan age, with steady returns. If no age makes the savings last, it keeps the one that lasts longest. A difference of less than $500 counts as a tie and the earlier age is kept. For a couple it tries each person's age in turn while holding the other's, and repeats until neither changes. The chance of success is shown for the best ages and for the ages you entered. Everything else, including when OAS starts, stays as you entered it, and ages before retirement are not tried because pay is not modelled before then. The answer depends on the plan age and the return you chose: living longer or lower returns favour starting later, and a shorter plan favours starting earlier.

A windfall, such as the sale of a property, downsizing or an inheritance, is added to non-registered savings at the start of the age you give, in today's dollars, with no tax owing on it and no gain yet. It then grows and is spent like your other savings. It does not use TFSA or RRSP room, and a windfall is not included in the "added each year" amounts. For a couple it is split equally between you.

For a couple, each of you has your own TFSA, RRSP, DC plan, non-registered savings, pensions, age and tax. Spending is for the household and starts when the first of you retires. Until then, pay is assumed to cover living costs and is not modelled. After that, the pay of whoever is still working (the pay boxes, in today's dollars, before tax) is taxed as that person's income, counts towards OAS recovery tax and GIS, and covers part of the spending after tax and after the savings that person adds each year; your savings cover the rest. If a box is left at 0, that person's pay and added savings are both left out until they retire. Pay is held flat after inflation and stops at the retirement age. Each of you has your own plan age, and the plan runs until the last of you reaches yours. Ages in the charts and tables are your age, even after your own death. When the first of you reaches the plan age, all savings pass to the other with no tax at that point, the other's spending drops to the share you choose, a share of the DB pension continues, the CPP survivor benefit is 60% of the deceased's pension with the total capped at the maximum, the deceased's OAS stops, and the survivor is taxed alone and tested for GIS alone. Chance of success is judged on the whole plan. Each year, extra money needed from taxable accounts comes from whichever of you has the lower taxable income, and up to half of the higher earner's eligible pension income (a DB pension, and RRSP or DC plan income from 65) is moved to the other when that lowers your combined tax. TFSA room is $7,000 a year for each of you. It does not model the CPP survivor rules in full detail, the final-year tax on the estate, spousal RRSPs, or transferring unused credits between you.

The Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) is added automatically in any year from age 65 when you receive OAS and your income, not counting OAS, is low enough. It uses the single-person figures for October to December 2026: up to $1,138.90 a month, falling to nil at $23,112 of income. The planner approximates the phase-out as 75 cents lost per dollar of income up to about $8,400 and 50 cents beyond, which matches both published figures. TFSA withdrawals do not count as income for GIS, but RRSP, DC plan, CPP, DB pension and the taxable part of non-registered withdrawals do. The planner also tries a plan that spends the TFSA first, which can keep income low enough to receive GIS. For couples it uses the couple figures for the same quarter: up to $685.56 a month each when both of you receive OAS, falling to nil at $30,528 of combined income, and up to $1,138.90 a month when only one of you receives OAS, falling to nil at $55,392. Work income (pay and part-time income) gets the GIS earnings exemption: the first $5,000 each is ignored, and half of the next $10,000. It does not model the Allowance for a partner aged 60 to 64.

The 2027 tax and benefit figures are not yet published (the CRA normally releases them in November), so everything here uses 2026 figures. Tax figures come from the KPMG tables for 2026 rates and brackets and 2026 credit amounts. Pension figures: maximum CPP at 65 of $1,507.65 a month (January 2026) and OAS of $762.50 a month for ages 65 to 74 and $838.75 from 75 (October to December 2026 quarter). CPP is cut 0.6% per month if started before 65 and raised 0.7% per month if started after. OAS is raised 0.6% per month if started after 65. OAS is adjusted every quarter, so check canada.ca for current amounts, and canada.ca/cpp for CPP.