How much do I need to retire early in Canada?

It depends on what you spend, the age you stop, and when CPP and OAS start. The calculator works out the pot in today's dollars with the withdrawal rate you choose, or the pot that lasts to age 100 at your return if that is larger, and splits it into the years before CPP and OAS, the RRSP years, and the years after.

Can I take money from my RRSP before 65?

Yes. Canada has no minimum age for an RRSP withdrawal, but every dollar is taxable income in the year you take it, and the institution withholds tax. The page puts the years before CPP and OAS on money outside the RRSP, where a TFSA withdrawal is tax-free, and the RRSP after. If the money outside it is short, you can draw the RRSP early at the cost of tax.

When does the RRSP have to become a RRIF?

By the end of the year you turn 71. The RRSP can become a RRIF, which must pay a minimum each year: the balance at the start of the year times a prescribed factor for your age. The calculator shows the first minimum and what it does to your net income against the OAS recovery tax.

Does early retirement lower my CPP?

Your CPP estimate may assume you keep working to 65, so stopping earlier can lower it. Enter your own figure from My Service Canada Account. CPP can start from 60 to 70: it is cut for each month before 65 and raised for each month after, as on the CPP page.

What is the OAS recovery tax in this calculation?

OAS is reduced by 15% of net income above C$95,323 (the figure for income year 2026), and no more than the pension. The calculator works it with your yearly spending as net income, with the OAS counted in it, so a high spending plan counts less OAS. It does not tax your withdrawals.

Canada early retirement calculator

The pot you need to stop work before CPP and OAS: the bridge from the TFSA, the RRSP years, then the RRIF with CPP and OAS counted.

To stop work at 50 on C$50,000 a year, in today's dollars, the pot you need is

C$985,600

That counts CPP from 65 and OAS from 65, in today's dollars. It is before income tax on what you draw, and splits into three parts, because the money in each pays for different years in this model. The figures here are an example: replace them with yours. Amounts are in Canadian dollars (C$), from Canada.ca.

1. The bridge: TFSA and other savings: C$544,932; Ages 50 to 65: 15 years before the first of CPP and OAS pays. This is the money outside the RRSP.
2. The RRSP years: C$80,112; Ages 65 to 71: 6 years of spending, less the CPP and OAS already paying, from the RRSP, until it must be a RRIF.
3. From 71: the RRIF: C$360,556; From age 71, with CPP and OAS counted, at a 4% withdrawal rate.

What you would hold at 50

TFSA and other savings: C$396,626; C$148,306 short of the bridge. You could draw the RRSP early to make it up, but every dollar of it is taxable income that year.
RRSP: C$368,363; Taxable when you take it out. It must become a RRIF, or be cashed, by the end of the year you turn 71.
Together: C$764,989; C$220,610 short of the C$985,600 needed.

On these figures you are not there at 50: C$220,610 short in all.

The first RRIF minimum

The RRSP must become a RRIF by the end of the year you turn 71, and no minimum is due in the year it does. If the RRSP you would hold pays the RRSP years above and the spending in the year you turn 71, it is worth C$810,400 when the first minimum falls due, the year after. That minimum is 5.3% of it, C$42,789. With CPP and OAS, your net income that year would be about C$61,539, under the C$95,323 where the OAS recovery tax starts.

Your age nowWhole years. It sets how many years you still save. From 18 to 70.Age you stop workFrom 30 to 70.Yearly spending once you stopIn today's dollars. From 1,000 to 1,000,000.C$Your CPP estimate at 65, a monthYour own figure from My Service Canada Account; it may assume you keep working to 65, so stopping earlier can lower it. The 2026 maximum at 65 is C$1,507.65; most people get less.C$Years in Canada after 18, by the time OAS startsComplete years in Canada. 40 or more means the full pension; under 10 means none. This page assumes you live in Canada when it starts (the minimum is 20 abroad). From 0 to 60.Age you start CPPFrom 60 to 70.Age you start OASFrom 65 to 70.TFSA and other savings nowMoney outside the RRSP: a TFSA, a non-registered account, cash.C$Saved into the TFSA and other savings each yearUntil you stop work.C$RRSP nowInclude a spousal RRSP only if it is yours to draw.C$Saved into the RRSP each yearIncluding any employer match. Until you stop work.C$Return above inflation, %Your assumption, for the pot you hold and the pot you need. Not a forecast. From 0 to 10, up to 2 decimal places.Withdrawal rate, %The share of the pot you take each year. 4% is the common rule, from Bengen (1994), a study of US market history. From 2 to 10, up to 2 decimal places.

Everything is in today's dollars, and CPP and OAS are held flat in them. The OAS recovery tax is worked with your yearly spending as net income, with the OAS counted in it. Not modelled: income tax on what you draw (federal or provincial), the Quebec Pension Plan, a spouse, the pension income credit, the 10% increase in OAS at 75, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and withholding on RRSP withdrawals. The link carries your figures after the #, so you can save or share it. Your figures are not sent to us.

Three stretches decide which money pays each year

The day you stop work starts the bridge. Until the first of CPP and OAS pays, spending comes from savings, so what you hold in a TFSA and outside the RRSP matters more than the total. CPP can start from 60 and OAS from 65.

The RRSP years run from the first pension to the year you turn 71. Canada does not lock the RRSP at an age: a withdrawal is simply taxable income. The page pays these years from it because that is how the model splits the money: the TFSA covers the bridge, and its tax-free withdrawals do not add to the income the OAS recovery tax looks at. Your own order of drawing is your choice.

The RRIF years start when the RRSP must become a RRIF, by the end of the year you turn 71. From then it must pay a minimum each year, and by then CPP and OAS are both paying part of your spending.

The pot you need today is the cost of all three stretches, each priced at the return you enter. The calculator adds them up so the parts equal the total.

The rules the page uses

CPP and OAS. The amounts come from the same calculation as the CPP and OAS page, held flat in today's dollars because both are indexed to prices. CPP is your own estimate; OAS is worked from your years in Canada after 18 and the age you start it.

The OAS recovery tax. It takes back 15% of net income above C$95,323, up to the whole pension. This page counts your yearly spending as net income with OAS in it. Your real net income depends on how you draw from each account: TFSA withdrawals are not income and RRSP and RRIF withdrawals are.

The RRIF minimum. It is the balance at the start of the year times a factor set by the age you have attained then, and nil in the year the RRIF is entered into. The page shows the first one, the year after you turn 71, on the RRSP you would hold if it paid the RRSP years and that year.

What is not modelled. Income tax on withdrawals (federal and provincial), the Quebec Pension Plan, the pension income credit, a spouse, the increase in OAS at 75, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and withholding. Each can change your answer. This is a planning aid and not financial advice: a registered adviser can help with your own case.

Questions people ask

How much do I need to retire early in Canada?: It depends on what you spend, the age you stop, and when CPP and OAS start. The calculator works out the pot in today's dollars with the withdrawal rate you choose, or the pot that lasts to age 100 at your return if that is larger, and splits it into the years before CPP and OAS, the RRSP years, and the years after.
Can I take money from my RRSP before 65?: Yes. Canada has no minimum age for an RRSP withdrawal, but every dollar is taxable income in the year you take it, and the institution withholds tax. The page puts the years before CPP and OAS on money outside the RRSP, where a TFSA withdrawal is tax-free, and the RRSP after. If the money outside it is short, you can draw the RRSP early at the cost of tax.
When does the RRSP have to become a RRIF?: By the end of the year you turn 71. The RRSP can become a RRIF, which must pay a minimum each year: the balance at the start of the year times a prescribed factor for your age. The calculator shows the first minimum and what it does to your net income against the OAS recovery tax.
Does early retirement lower my CPP?: Your CPP estimate may assume you keep working to 65, so stopping earlier can lower it. Enter your own figure from My Service Canada Account. CPP can start from 60 to 70: it is cut for each month before 65 and raised for each month after, as on the CPP page.
What is the OAS recovery tax in this calculation?: OAS is reduced by 15% of net income above C$95,323 (the figure for income year 2026), and no more than the pension. The calculator works it with your yearly spending as net income, with the OAS counted in it, so a high spending plan counts less OAS. It does not tax your withdrawals.

Sources: Canada.ca, CPP: when to start, OAS amounts and the OAS recovery tax; Justice Laws Website, Income Tax Regulations, section 7308 and the Income Tax Act, section 146. Your own CPP estimate is in My Service Canada Account. The figures on the CPP and OAS page are the same ones.