All the Numbers

Retirement age

From the All the Numbers wiki · Retirement and benefits

There is no legal retirement age in Canada. In the plan, a person's retirement age is the age at which their employment income stops. Everything else about retirement, such as when the CPP retirement pension and Old Age Security start, is set separately, so retiring at 60 does not by itself start either pension.

What the planner does

  • The default is 65. A person retires at 65 unless another age is given.[1] Pay stops from the month after that birthday. The plan takes every birthday as 1 January of the birth year, so pay stops at the end of January.[2] The planner accepts a retirement age from 50 to 80.
  • Someone already past it. A person who is past the retirement age and still has a salary is taken to keep working to the end of the plan until an age is entered. The plan says so in its assumptions.
  • Contributions stop. An account's monthly contribution stops when its owner retires. Money left over after retirement is still handled by the plan's usual rule for spare cash; see auto-allocation.[3]
  • RRSP to RRIF at 71. An RRSP moves in full to a RRIF in December of the year its owner turns 71, the latest the law allows, and pays the minimum from the next year. An owner already past 71 is taken to hold a RRIF opened before the plan.[4]

Other ages that matter

  • The Allowance, a benefit for the 60 to 64-year-old spouse of a Guaranteed Income Supplement recipient, starts at 60.[5] The planner does not calculate it; the Guaranteed Income Supplement page says what it does instead.
  • CPP can start from 60 and OAS from 65, each with its own adjustment for starting early or late.

What it does not do

The plan does not lower spending when pay stops; spending is whatever the plan says. How long the projection runs is a separate setting; see the plan horizon.

See also: workplace pensions, net worth.

See also

  • Auto-allocation · When switched on, money left after spending and your own contributions is placed for you down a priority list — FHSA, then RRSP, then TFSA, then non-registered by default — each account taking what its room allows. Every dollar it moves is shown, by account, on each month and year.
  • Events outside the plan's horizon · An event, purchase or sale dated before the plan starts or after it ends is ignored rather than clamped into range, and the plan says which one it dropped.
  • Net worth, as the plan counts it · Net worth is everything the plan holds (cash, investment and registered accounts, homes at market value) minus mortgages, credit lines, debts and tax owing. It is not reduced for selling costs or for tax on money still in an RRSP.
  • Old Age Security · A monthly pension paid to most Canadians from 65, based on years lived in Canada after 18. It can be deferred for a permanent increase, rises 10% at 75 and is partly repaid through a recovery tax at high incomes.
  • RRIFs and the wind-up at 71 · An RRSP must become a RRIF by the end of the year you turn 71, after which a prescribed minimum comes out and is taxed every year. Give a birth year and the plan models it; leave it blank and a plan running past 71 looks better than it is.
  • RRSP room, deduction and withdrawals · Room accrues at 18% of earned income up to the annual cap, contributions earn a deduction refunded the following April, and withdrawals are taxed as income. The plan assumes you start with no carried-forward room unless you say otherwise.
  • The CPP retirement pension · A monthly pension from the Canada Pension Plan based on contributions, payable from 60 to 70. Starting earlier cuts it by 0.6% a month, starting later raises it by 0.7% a month. The plan estimates it from a Service Canada statement or from salary.
  • The Guaranteed Income Supplement · A tax-free top-up to Old Age Security for pensioners with little other income. It falls by 50 cents for every dollar of other income (75 cents through part of the range); RRSP and RRIF withdrawals count against it, TFSA withdrawals do not. The projection estimates it on the previous year's income.
  • Who the plan is about · A plan covers one person or two. Where a birth year is missing the plan assumes the person is 40 and born on 1 January, says so on the page, and uses that age for tax, pension and account rules until the real one is entered.
  • Workplace pensions · A defined-benefit pension from an employer pays a set amount each month for life, sometimes with a bridge benefit that stops at 65. The engine can handle these as income; the planner does not ask for them yet, so your plan does not include one unless it is added another way.

References

  1. ↑Service Canada — When to start your CPP retirement pension (65 is the age with no adjustment; OAS also starts at 65) · A person retires at 65 unless another age is given — employment income stops from the month after that birthday (1 January taken as the birthday until the date is entered). Someone already past it with a salary keeps working through the plan until an age is given · 65 years · effective 2026-09-25
  2. ↑CRA — CPP contributions stop the month after the 70th birthday, or after 65 on CPT30 · The plan asks for a birth year, never a date of birth; every birthday is 1 January of that year. CPP and OAS start, and CPP contributions stop past 65, by the birthday month, so this is reported on the run whenever one of them falls in the plan · See the source · effective 2026-09-20
  3. ↑Our own convention, not a published rule · An account's monthly contribution stops when its owner retires; money left over after retirement is still invested by the surplus rule · See the source · effective 2026-09-25
  4. ↑CRA T4040 ch.5 (an RRSP matures by the end of the year you turn 71: withdraw it, buy an annuity or transfer it to a RRIF); ITA 146(2)(b.4) · An RRSP moves in full to a RRIF in December of the year its owner turns 71 — the latest the law allows — and pays the RRIF minimum from the next year; an owner already past 71 is taken to hold a RRIF opened before the plan · 71 years · effective 2026-09-25
  5. ↑Old Age Security Act s.19(1)(b): "has attained sixty years of age but has not attained sixty-five years of age" · OAS Allowance: paid to the spouse or common-law partner of a GIS recipient from the 60th birthday until 65 (not modelled; the age bounds when a couple meets it) · 60 years · effective 1975-10-01