Retirement Savings Calculator: How Much Do I Need? (Canada, 2026)
Find out how much you need to retire in Canada and whether you are on track. Enter your age, savings, monthly saving and the yearly spending you want, and the calculator shows the nest egg you need, what you are heading for, the gap, the extra to save each month, and the age the money runs out.
| In today's dollars | |
|---|---|
| Years until retirement | 30 |
| Savings at 65 if nothing changes | $371,693.71 |
| Nest egg needed at 65 to last to 95 | $761,835.40 |
| Shortfall | $390,141.69 |
| Extra to save each month to close it | $735.07 |
| Money runs out at about age | 78 |
| Withdrawn from savings each year from 65 (after $19,674 of CPP and OAS) | $30,325.88 |
| Real return until retirement (after inflation and fees) | 2.55% |
| Real return after retirement | 1.27% |
Government pensions are taken at 65 at the 2026 rates ($877.01 average CPP, $1,507.65 maximum CPP, $762.50 full OAS a month) and treated as rising with inflation. Your own CPP depends on your contribution history: check your estimate in My Service Canada Account. Taxes on withdrawals, a workplace pension and OAS clawback are not modelled.
Show the math
Everything is in today's dollars, so returns are converted to real returns first: (1 + return − fees) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1. Savings at retirement = today's savings grown at the real return for 30 years, plus each year's deposits ($500 × 12) grown from the end of the year they are made. The nest egg needed is the present value, at the after-retirement real return, of each year's withdrawal from 65 to 95: spending minus CPP and OAS in the years they are paid, taken at the start of each year. Extra monthly saving = shortfall ÷ the future value of $1 a year for 30 years ÷ 12. The run-out age comes from taking the withdrawals year by year from the projected balance and growing what is left.
How this calculator works
The calculator answers one question: on the day you retire, how much do you need to have, and are you going to have it?
The nest egg you need starts with the yearly gap between your spending and your government pensions. Every year from retirement to your plan-to age, that gap comes out of savings. The tool adds up all those withdrawals, discounted at the return your money earns after retirement, to get the lump sum that covers them exactly. If your pensions cover your spending, the answer is zero.
What you are heading for is today’s savings plus your monthly deposits, grown until retirement at the return you pick. The difference is your gap. From the gap the tool works out the extra monthly saving that closes it, and, if you change nothing, the age at which the money runs out.
All of it is in today’s dollars. Returns are converted to real returns, the return left after inflation, so a spending target of $50,000 means the same standard of living in every year. Fees come off the return before that.
Government pensions use the 2026 figures for someone starting at 65: $877.01 a month for the average new CPP pension, $1,507.65 for the maximum, and $762.50 for full OAS. Both are indexed to inflation, so they hold their value in today’s dollars.
Return assumptions (FP Canada 2026 guidelines)
| Profile | Return before inflation | Real return after 2.1% inflation and 0.3% fees |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and GICs | 2.7% | 0.29% |
| Cautious | 3.7% | 1.27% |
| Balanced | 5.0% | 2.55% |
| Growth | 6.1% | 3.62% |
These are long-term planning guidelines, not forecasts. Real markets swing far more than this in any single year.
Worked example: 35 years old, $50,000 saved, $500 a month
Someone aged 35 has $50,000 saved and adds $500 a month. They want $50,000 a year from 65 to 95 and expect average CPP plus full OAS, $1,640 a month in today’s dollars. Balanced investments until retirement, cautious after.
| Step | Amount (today’s dollars) |
|---|---|
| Savings at 65 if nothing changes | $371,693.71 |
| Spending a year | $50,000.00 |
| CPP and OAS a year from 65 | − $19,674.12 |
| Withdrawn from savings each year | $30,325.88 |
| Nest egg needed at 65 to last to 95 | $761,835.40 |
| Shortfall | $390,141.69 |
| Extra to save each month | $735.07 |
If nothing changes, the money runs out at about age 78. Saving $1,235 a month instead of $500 lifts the balance at 65 to $761,836, which lasts to 95. The real return until retirement is 2.55% a year and 1.27% after.
Assumptions
- CPP and OAS start at 65 and are the 2026 amounts, indexed. Your own CPP depends on your contribution record. Check your estimate in My Service Canada Account.
- No workplace pension, no OAS clawback and no tax on withdrawals. The nest egg is a pre-tax figure.
- Deposits are made through the year and credited at the end of each year. Withdrawals come out at the start of each retirement year.
- Spending is flat in today’s dollars for the whole retirement. Many people spend more early and less later, which lowers the target.
- The plan-to age is when the money reaches zero. Anything left in a home or a workplace pension is a cushion on top.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
- How much do I need to retire in Canada?
- It depends on what you will spend, not on a magic number. Work out your yearly spending in today's dollars, subtract what CPP, OAS and any workplace pension will pay, and the rest has to come from savings every year until your plan-to age. This calculator turns that yearly gap into the lump sum you need on the day you retire.
- Is $1 million enough to retire?
- For many Canadian couples with CPP and OAS it is, and for many single people with a high spending target it is not. Try it here: enter your spending and pensions and see the nest egg the calculator asks for. A paid-off home and a modest lifestyle change the answer more than the round number does.
- Why is everything in today's dollars?
- Because it is the only way the numbers mean something. A yearly spend of $50,000 in 30 years will be a much bigger figure in future dollars, but it buys the same things. The calculator keeps spending, pensions and savings in today's dollars and uses real returns, which are the returns after inflation.
- What return should I assume?
- The calculator uses FP Canada's projection assumption guidelines, which financial planners in Canada must use for long-term projections. Pick the profile that matches how your money is invested. Most people move to a more cautious mix after retirement, so the after-retirement return is lower by default.
- What if I retire before 65?
- CPP and OAS in this tool start at 65, so every year before that must come entirely from savings. The calculator withdraws the full spending amount for those years and the smaller gap after the pensions start. Taking CPP early at 60 is possible but pays less for life, so the tool keeps 65 to stay simple.
- Does the calculator include tax on RRSP withdrawals?
- No. The nest egg is before tax. Money in an RRSP or RRIF is taxed as income when it comes out, so a dollar there buys less than a dollar in a TFSA. If most of your savings are in RRSPs, set your spending target a little higher to cover the tax, or use the RRSP withdrawal tax calculator to see the tax on a given amount.
- How does this compare with the 4% rule?
- The 4% rule says you can take 4% of your savings in the first year of a 30-year retirement and raise it with inflation. That is the same as needing 25 times your yearly withdrawal. This calculator does the same sum for your own years, return and pensions, so the answer can be higher or lower than 25 times.
- What if I live past my plan-to age?
- The money is planned to reach zero at that age, so living longer means relying on CPP, OAS, any workplace pension and home equity. That is why 95 is the default even though most people will not reach it. Delaying CPP and OAS to 70 raises the guaranteed income for life, which is the best protection against a long life.
Sources
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these primary sources. Data last verified .
- Service Canada – CPP retirement pension: How much you could receive (modified 2026-07-02)
- Service Canada – Canada Pension Plan: Monthly payment amounts (modified 2026-06-29)
- Service Canada – CPP retirement pension: When to start (modified 2026-06-18)
- Service Canada – Canada Pension Plan amounts and the Consumer price index (modified 2025-12-30)
- Service Canada – CPP enhancement (modified 2025-11-17)
- Service Canada – CPP post-retirement benefit: Eligibility (modified 2026-01-09)
- Service Canada – Old Age Security payment amounts (modified 2026-08-17)
- Service Canada – Old Age Security: How much you could receive (modified 2026-08-06)
- Service Canada – Old Age Security: When to start your pension (modified 2026-08-06)
- Service Canada – Old Age Security: Eligibility (modified 2026-08-06)
- Service Canada – Old Age Security pension recovery tax (modified 2026-06-29)
- Service Canada – Guaranteed Income Supplement: How much you could receive (modified 2026-06-29)
- FP Canada / Institut de planification financière – Projection Assumption Guidelines 2026
- FCAC – Setting up an emergency fund
- Government of Canada – Canada Education Savings Grant
- Bank of Canada – Inflation-control target (2%)
Put this calculator on your own website
Free for brokers, accountants, advisors and bloggers. Paste this where you want the calculator. It sizes itself and credits GlassLayer with a link. The embed page has the terms and every calculator.
<iframe src="https://glasslayer.ca/embed/retirement-savings-calculator" title="Retirement Savings Calculator: How Much Do I Need? (Canada, 2026)" style="width:100%;border:0;min-height:900px" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<script>addEventListener('message',e=>{if(e.data&&e.data.type==='glasslayer-embed-height'){document.querySelectorAll('iframe[src*="/embed/"]').forEach(f=>{if(f.contentWindow===e.source)f.style.height=e.data.height+'px'})}})</script>