Real Retirement Scenarios: See How 3 Canadians Plan to Retire (With Data)
We modeled three common retirement personalities—The Early Bird, The Late Starter, and The Power Couple. Click their profiles to load their exact data into the calculator.
Personal finance is, well, personal. Generic advice like “save 10% of your income” is useful, but it doesn’t tell you what your actual government pension cheque will look like.
One of the most powerful features of our CPP & OAS Estimator is the ability to save and share scenarios. Whether you are a financial planner sending a link to a client, or just showing your spouse the math, you can “freeze” a scenario into a URL.
To demonstrate, we have modeled three distinct Canadian retirement profiles. Click the links below to load their data instantly into the calculator and see how the math shakes out.
1. “The Early Bird” (Sarah)
The Goal: Sarah wants out of the rat race. She is currently 59 and plans to retire the moment she turns 60 (next year) to travel while she is healthy. She knows she will take a penalty on her CPP, but she wants to know exactly how much.
The Profile:
- Current Age: 59 (Born 1966)
- Retirement Age: 60
- Avg Salary: $65,000 (Projected to age 60)
- Years in Canada: 40+
What to watch for: We have filled in her estimated earnings until she retires. When you load Sarah’s data, check the Earnings Input tab. You will see that we haven’t just imported her past history; we have also projected her $65,000 salary for 2025 and 2026. This gives her a true estimate of what her pension will be after she finishes her final year of work.
2. “The New Canadian” (Raj)
The Goal: Raj immigrated to Canada in his 40s. He is currently 60 and is worried about his Old Age Security (OAS). He knows you need 40 years of residency to get the full amount, and he won’t hit that. He plans to keep working until 70 to maximize what he can get.
The Profile:
- Current Age: 60 (Born 1965)
- Retirement Age: 70 (Deferred)
- Years in Canada (at 70): 25
- Avg Salary: $55,000 (Projected to age 70)
What to watch for: Check the Earnings Table. Since Raj is still working, we have pre-filled his future income all the way to 2035 (Age 70). By forecasting these future high-earning years, the calculator shows how he can significantly boost his CPP payout to compensate for his lower OAS eligibility.
3. “The Low-Income Couple” (Jim & Maria)
The Goal: Jim and Maria have modest savings. Jim worked construction; Maria stayed home with kids for several years. They are retiring this year and are worried about the GIS Clawback. They have a small amount of RRSP savings and want to know if withdrawing it will hurt their government benefits.
The Profile:
- Status: Married
- Jim’s Income: $18,000 (CPP/Pension)
- Maria’s Income: $0
- Other Income (RRSP): $12,000/year withdrawl
What to watch for: Check the Insights section at the bottom. You will likely see a warning about the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). Because they are withdrawing $12,000 from their RRSPs (entered as “Other Income”), they are losing 50 cents of GIS for every dollar withdrawn.
Create Your Own Link
Want to send your scenario to a partner or financial advisor?
- Fill out your details in the Input tab.
- Use the Estimate from Salary button to project your future income if you aren’t retired yet.
- Click the Copy Link button in the top right header.
Note: No personal data is stored on our servers. The data is encoded directly into the link itself.