Quick start
You can build a useful first plan in five steps
- Household: enter who the plan is for, dates of birth, retirement ages, planning ages and expected CPP/OAS or other income.
- Assets: enter RRSP/RRIF, TFSA, non-registered interest/GIC investments, non-registered capital-gains investments with ACB, cash and other registered savings. Optionally add your principal residence and compare keeping it, downsizing or selling and renting.
- Spending: enter annual Go-Go, Slow-Go and No-Go lifestyle spending plus major future expenses.
- Assumptions: review inflation, investment return, TFSA room, CPP/OAS ages and retirement-confidence defaults.
- Results: start with the Retirement Action Center, then review retirement confidence, charts, stress tests and the year-by-year report.
Step 1
Household: tell the planner who and when
The Household tab establishes the timeline and retirement income available to each person. For couples, enter both people because retirement dates, benefit timing, longevity and RRIF rules can differ.
Date of birth
Used to calculate age in each projection year and determine when CPP, OAS and RRIF-related rules apply.
Retirement age
The age when that person stops earning the pre-retirement income modeled by the planner and begins the retirement drawdown period.
Plan to age
Your longevity assumption. Use an age that gives the plan a reasonable safety margin rather than treating average life expectancy as a guaranteed end date.
CPP and OAS
If you have estimates from Service Canada, enter them. If not, the optional detailed estimator can create planning estimates from earnings and Canadian residence history.
Optional detailed CPP & OAS estimator
Expand Calculate CPP & OAS from your history when you want a more detailed estimate instead of manually entering benefit amounts.
CPP history
Enter annual pensionable employment or self-employment earnings for the years available. Earnings above the modeled CPP ceiling do not increase the estimate beyond the applicable pensionable maximum. Mark child-rearing exclusion years when appropriate.
OAS residence history
Enter the date Canadian residence began after age 18 and add periods outside Canada that should not count toward residence. The estimator uses completed years of Canadian residence for partial OAS planning estimates.
Step 2
Assets: enter what you have today
Enter current balances separately because each account has different tax treatment.
| Account | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| RRSP / RRIF | Withdrawals are generally taxable. The planner models RRSP-to-RRIF transition and mandatory RRIF withdrawals. |
| TFSA | Investment growth and withdrawals are modeled tax-free. Available TFSA room can also receive modeled contributions from RRIF surplus or non-registered assets. |
| Non-registered — interest / income | Use for savings accounts, GICs, term deposits and similar holdings. Modeled interest is included in taxable income every year, even when it remains invested. Withdrawals of the already-taxed balance do not create a second tax. |
| Non-registered — capital gains | Use for investments you want modeled primarily as deferred capital appreciation. Enter current market value plus total adjusted cost base (ACB). ACB may be greater than market value when the portfolio has an unrealized loss. |
| Cash | Provides immediate liquidity. Cash principal is not taxed when used; any return you enter is treated as taxable interest each year. |
| Other registered | Use for additional registered retirement savings that should be included in the projection. |
TFSA fill target after retirement
Safety-reserve behavior: the withdrawal strategies use cash first, then the non-registered interest/income bucket, before selling market-sensitive capital-gains investments. In Monte Carlo and market stress tests, the market-return shock applies to the market-sensitive accounts while the interest/GIC return remains at the assumption you entered. This lets the plan represent a lower-return safety bucket that can help avoid selling market investments after a decline.
If you set an annual TFSA target, the model first uses excess after-tax cash created by mandatory RRIF withdrawals. If more TFSA funding is needed, it uses non-registered interest/income investments before selling capital-gains investments. All transfers are limited by available TFSA room and account balances. New money contributed to the TFSA participates in future modeled TFSA investment growth.
Optional in Step 2
Home & Housing Strategy Planner
Expand Home & Housing Strategy Planner when you want your principal residence included in retirement decisions. The feature is optional; when it is turned off, the planner behaves as before and considers only the financial accounts you entered.
Keep current home
The home continues to appreciate at the rate you enter. Home equity is included in net worth and the estimated estate, while current ownership costs continue through the projection.
Downsize at age X
The model sells the current home at the downsize age you enter, deducts the mortgage, selling costs and moving costs, buys the replacement home, deducts estimated buying/closing costs and invests any remaining proceeds in the non-registered portfolio.
Sell and rent at age X
The model sells the home at the separate sell-and-rent age you enter, deducts the mortgage and transaction costs, invests the net proceeds and replaces ownership costs with the annual rent and rent-inflation assumptions.
Housing costs already in spending?
Choose Already included when your Go-Go / Slow-Go / No-Go spending already includes current housing costs. The planner then adds only the difference created by downsizing or renting, preventing double counting.
What happens to released home equity?
Net proceeds released by downsizing or selling are added to the modeled non-registered investment account. The amount added becomes new adjusted cost base, so the planner does not create an artificial capital gain on the sale proceeds themselves. Future investment growth and withdrawals then follow the normal taxable-investment rules in the planner.
How the principal residence is treated for tax
The housing model assumes the property qualifies as the household's principal residence for the full ownership period. Under that assumption, no capital-gains tax is applied to the home sale or to principal-residence value included in the estate. A disposition still has tax-reporting requirements, and partial rental/business use or other circumstances can reduce the exemption.
How to read the Housing strategy comparison
On Results, the selected housing strategy receives the full Monte Carlo and safe-spending analysis. Alternative housing strategies are re-optimized and run through a smaller quick comparison so you can see the direction and approximate size of the effect without making the page excessively slow. Select an alternative strategy in Step 2 and recalculate when you want its full confidence analysis.
Step 3
Spending: model how retirement changes over time
The planner separates lifestyle spending into three stages. Enter amounts in today's dollars; inflation is applied by the projection.
Go-Go
Typically the active early-retirement years, when travel, hobbies and discretionary spending may be highest.
Slow-Go
A later phase when discretionary activity and travel may decline.
No-Go
The later-life spending phase. Do not assume costs disappear—housing, care and other needs can remain significant.
Future expenses
Add known large expenses such as a vehicle, renovation, family support or major travel. Enter the total amount, starting year and number of years over which it should be spread. Keep Amount is in today's dollars selected when you want inflation applied automatically.
Step 4
Assumptions: set the economic environment
Assumptions can change the result significantly. Avoid choosing optimistic numbers simply to make the plan look better.
| Setting | How to use it |
|---|---|
| Inflation | Raises modeled spending, indexed benefits and other inflation-sensitive amounts over time. |
| Market investment return | The long-term nominal return for RRSP/RRIF, TFSA, other registered savings and non-registered capital-gains investments. It is also the centre of the Monte Carlo market-return distribution. |
| Interest / income investment return | Expected annual interest for the non-registered savings/GIC bucket. This return stays stable in Monte Carlo simulations and the interest is taxable annually. |
| Cash reserve return | Expected annual interest on cash. Use 0% for non-interest-bearing cash; any modeled interest is taxable annually. |
| Optimization objective | Choose a balanced result, lower lifetime tax or larger after-tax estate emphasis. |
| Household tax optimizer | For couples, leave this enabled to test eligible pension-income allocations of up to 50% each year. The model keeps a split only when it lowers combined estimated income tax and OAS recovery tax. CPP and OAS are not treated as splittable pension income. |
| RRIF-form withdrawals from age 65 | When enabled, the model may assume an age-65+ RRSP withdrawal is first transferred to a RRIF and then withdrawn when that creates eligible pension income. This is an implementation step that must actually be arranged with the financial institution. |
| Projected annual TFSA room | A planning assumption for future TFSA room. Actual future limits may differ. |
How the household tax optimizer works
The tax engine starts with 2026 federal and provincial/territorial tax brackets and standard retirement credits. It models the basic personal amount, age amount, pension income amount, standard spouse amount and transferable unused age/pension amounts where applicable, plus selected province-specific items. For a couple, each projected year is evaluated with no split and with legal eligible pension-income allocations; the lower household tax/OAS-recovery-tax result is used.
Retirement-confidence defaults
If you are unsure, leave the default settings in place. Annual market volatility controls how much simulated investment returns vary. Market simulations controls how many possible market paths are tested. Safe-spending confidence target controls the success level used when estimating sustainable lifestyle spending.
Step 5
Results: start with the big picture
The result cards summarize the optimizer's selected strategy. Review whether planned spending is fully funded, lifetime estimated tax, ending net worth and the after-tax estate estimate. For couples, the Household tax optimizer section then compares the selected plan with the same plan without pension-income splitting and explains the first recommended allocation. If housing is enabled, review the Housing strategy comparison next to see the effect of keeping the home, downsizing or selling and renting. Then use the charts and tables to understand how the result is produced.
Start here on Results
Retirement Action Center: turn the calculation into practical next steps
The Retirement Action Center is designed for people who do not want to interpret every chart or simulation first. It combines the deterministic projection, Monte Carlo confidence result, safe-spending estimate and stress tests into three plain-language questions.
1. Is my plan healthy?
This summarizes whether the base projection funds your spending and whether the Monte Carlo success rate reaches the confidence target you selected.
2. What should I do now?
If the plan is on target, the tool tells you that no immediate correction is indicated. If it is below target, it quantifies the modeled spending adjustment or points you toward the most relevant change.
3. What if markets change?
This is your spending guardrail. After a major market move, update the current balances and re-run the planner. If confidence falls below your target, the tool shows the spending level to move toward until the plan recovers.
Ways to strengthen the plan
Expand this section to see tested options such as the safe-spending adjustment, a quick retirement-delay check, housing-strategy impact, TFSA funding priorities and stress-test areas that need attention.
Annual retirement action plan
Expand Annual retirement action plan to see the first 10 retirement years in a human-readable format. Each row shows planned spending, estimated tax and the main modeled actions—for example using CPP/OAS income, withdrawing from RRSP/RRIF, moving available surplus into TFSA, or using taxable investments and cash.
Retirement Readiness Score and privacy-safe sharing
After the confidence analysis finishes, the Results tab combines four existing outputs into a transparent 100-point readiness score. The score does not change any underlying retirement calculation; it summarizes them.
50 points: retirement confidence
Full points are awarded when the Monte Carlo success rate reaches the confidence target you selected. Below the target, this component is reduced proportionally.
20 points: spending cushion
Compares the modelled safe Go-Go spending with the Go-Go spending currently entered. Full points mean the safe-spending estimate covers the entered amount.
20 points: stress tests
Each of the five stress tests contributes equally to this component.
10 points: base projection
Full points are awarded when the deterministic projection funds planned spending through the selected horizon.
The privacy-safe share link and PNG image deliberately omit balances, names, birth dates, province, account values and detailed tax amounts. The share link stores only the high-level summary in the URL fragment; this feature does not upload the detailed retirement plan.
Retirement confidence: what the Monte Carlo results mean
The Sequence-of-returns analysis is collapsed by default. Expand it when you want the deeper risk analysis.
Plan success probability
If the result says 90%, roughly 90 out of every 100 modeled market paths fully funded the plan through the planning horizon. It does not mean there is a guaranteed 90% chance of success in real life.
Median after-tax estate
The middle simulated estate outcome: half the modeled paths finish above it and half finish below it.
10th–90th percentile range
A broad range of weaker-to-stronger modeled outcomes. The 10th percentile is a useful downside reference; the 90th percentile shows a strong-market outcome.
Safe Go-Go spending
The estimated Go-Go spending amount that reaches your selected confidence target while preserving the relative Slow-Go and No-Go pattern and keeping fixed future expenses in the plan.
Monte Carlo chart
The shaded range shows modeled 10th-to-90th percentile net worth by year and the centre line shows the median path. Hover over the chart for year-specific amounts.
Open Explain these results in plain English for a personalized interpretation of your success rate, estate range, safe-spending estimate and, when enabled, the housing decision.
Stress tests: ask “what if retirement is harder than expected?”
Expand Stress test this plan to see five intentionally difficult scenarios. These tests do not predict what will happen; they show how sensitive the selected plan is to specific risks.
| Stress test | Question it answers |
|---|---|
| 30% market drop at retirement | Can the plan survive a major loss at the point when withdrawals begin? |
| Five weak-return years | What if the market does not crash once, but disappoints for several years? |
| 15% higher lifestyle spending | How much room is there if ongoing spending is higher than planned? |
| Live five years longer | Can the assets support five additional years for each household member? |
| $100,000 unexpected expense | Does the plan have enough cushion for one major surprise cost? |
Each stress-test card has an Explain this result section. Open it for a simple explanation of why the test matters, the effect on your estate and what you might change if it produces a shortfall.
Year-by-year retirement report
This table is the detailed audit trail of the projection. Each row shows one year of spending, CPP, OAS, other income, account withdrawals, RRIF minimums, TFSA funding, estimated tax, remaining balances and, when housing is enabled, home equity and the year a housing transaction occurs.
Use the table when you want to understand when money is moving rather than only looking at the final result. For example, you can see years when a mandatory RRIF withdrawal is larger than spending needs and part of the excess is directed to available TFSA room.
You can also download the full table as CSV for your own analysis.
Download a complete retirement-plan PDF
Use Download PDF on the Results tab to create a shareable report. The PDF is always generated in light mode and includes:
- cover page with the tool name, website and generation date/time;
- Household, Assets, optional Home & Housing, Spending and Assumptions inputs;
- detailed CPP/OAS history when used;
- result summary and charts;
- Retirement Action Center with priorities and first retirement actions;
- retirement-confidence and Monte Carlo information;
- stress-test and alternative-strategy results;
- the complete year-by-year table;
- methodology and limitations.
The filename includes the tool name and generation timestamp so different versions of a plan are easier to keep organized.
Saving, privacy and optional cloud sync
Your plan is stored locally on the device first. You can use the planner without creating an account.
Create an account only if you want a cloud copy for access from another device. The planner compares local and cloud versions at startup or sign-in when necessary. After that, local changes save locally first and synchronize to the server.
Only one device can be signed in to cloud sync at a time. Signing in on another device invalidates the previous cloud session, while the previous device's locally stored plan remains on that device.
Export and import
Use Export to save a JSON copy of the plan and Import to restore one. This is useful as an additional backup or when you do not want to use cloud synchronization.
Common questions
Help with interpreting the planner
Should I change all assumptions until the plan passes?
No. Assumptions should reflect your best reasonable estimate, not the result you want to see. If a plan is weak, changing retirement age, spending, savings or major future expenses is usually more informative than simply assuming higher returns.
What should I look at first on the Results tab?
Start with the Retirement Action Center. It translates the full calculation into plan health, the most useful next action, a market-change spending guardrail, ways to strengthen the plan and the first 10 years of modeled retirement actions.
What success probability should I target?
There is no universal correct percentage. The default provides a useful planning benchmark, but the right target depends on flexibility, guaranteed income, spending needs, legacy goals and willingness to adjust later. Treat the result as decision support, not a pass/fail certification.
Why can delaying CPP or OAS change taxes and estate value?
Benefit timing changes both the amount and timing of taxable government income. That can alter how much must be withdrawn from RRSP/RRIF, TFSA and non-registered accounts in different years.
Why might withdrawing extra RRSP before RRIF age help?
A planned earlier withdrawal can sometimes smooth taxable income and reduce a much larger registered balance later, when mandatory RRIF withdrawals or terminal tax could otherwise be higher. The optimizer compares multiple approaches because the best outcome depends on the household.
Why can pension-income splitting reduce household tax?
Eligible pension income can generally be allocated between spouses for tax purposes, subject to the applicable rules and the 50% limit. This can reduce combined tax when spouses face different marginal rates, age/pension credits or OAS recovery-tax exposure. The planner tests the split annually and leaves income unsplit when splitting is not beneficial.
Why might the planner use a RRIF after age 65?
For a taxpayer age 65 or older, qualifying RRIF income can be eligible for the pension income amount and pension-income splitting, while a plain RRSP lump-sum withdrawal generally is not. When the option is enabled, the planner may model a partial RRSP-to-RRIF transfer before withdrawal where it improves the result.
Why does TFSA funding sometimes come from RRIF and sometimes from non-registered investments?
When a mandatory RRIF withdrawal creates excess after-tax cash, that surplus is used toward the annual TFSA target first. The remaining target uses interest/income investments before capital-gains investments, subject to modeled TFSA room and available balances.
Is this financial, tax or investment advice?
No. The planner is an educational projection. Canadian tax and benefit rules, investment taxation and personal circumstances are more complex than any general-purpose calculator can fully reproduce.
Official references