Retirement planning
Saving is the easy half. The harder half is turning what you have saved into an income that lasts, without handing more of it to tax than you need to.
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How much do I actually need?
The rules of thumb, seventy percent of your salary or a million dollars, are guesses about someone else. Two households with identical savings can have completely different answers depending on pensions, mortgage status, corporate assets and how long the money has to last. The plan we write shows the number and the assumptions behind it, so you can test it.
What if I don't have an employer pension?
Without a pension you gain something too: control over when income arrives, which matters enormously for tax. Incorporated owners have a further option in an Individual Pension Plan, covered below. If you do have a workplace plan, read this.
RRSP, TFSA or FHSA, which first?
Ordering them is arithmetic, not preference. If a first home is in view, the FHSA usually goes first because it wins twice. After that, high earners generally favour the RRSP for the deduction, and those in lower brackets favour the TFSA to keep future flexibility and protect income-tested benefits. An employer match on a group plan beats all three. The tax side of this decision is here.
What's an Individual Pension Plan and would it suit me?
It suits a narrow group well: incorporated owners over roughly forty, drawing meaningful salary, with retained earnings and a stable company. It suits others poorly, because it carries actuarial and administration costs and it is deliberately difficult to unwind. We model it against simply keeping the money in the corporation before recommending it. Corporate and business planning covers the structure.
When should I start CPP?
Waiting wins on arithmetic for anyone in normal health with other income to live on, because the increase is guaranteed, indexed and paid for life. Taking it early is the right answer when health is poor, when there is no other income available, or when drawing CPP lets you leave an RRSP untouched for a larger tax saving. We run both against your own statement of contributions. The full retirement discussion is here.
What does a drawdown plan change?
A retirement planning case study will be added here when the approved figures and story are ready.
See all case studiesRetirement figures on this page are current as of September 2026. Rules change, and we review this page whenever they do.
What else should you know?
How early should I start planning for retirement?
Earlier is cheaper, but the planning window that matters most is the ten years before you stop working. That is when contribution room, pension decisions, corporate structure and drawdown order can still all be arranged around each other.
Can I retire without a pension at all?
Yes, and most of our clients will. RRSPs, TFSAs, non-registered accounts, corporate assets and CPP together replace what a pension would have paid. It takes a plan with actual numbers in it rather than a savings habit and hope.
What income will CPP and OAS actually give me?
For most people the two combined cover a meaningful share of basic living costs and nothing like a full retirement income. We use your own CPP statement of contributions rather than the maximum figure, because very few people qualify for the maximum.
Does retirement planning cover my spouse too?
Always. Splitting eligible pension income, staggering CPP start dates, choosing whose RRSP is drawn first and planning around a survivor's income are joint decisions. Planning one person in isolation usually costs the household tax.
What if I plan to keep working part time?
Good, that changes the plan in your favour and we build it in. Part-time income lets you delay CPP, lower early withdrawals and stay under clawback thresholds, and it is often the difference between a plan that works and one that is tight.
Will your savings turn into the income you need?
Book a complimentary 20-minute assessment and we will show you what your numbers support.