Spouse 1 & Spouse 2: Retirement Calculator V28

Name — Display name, used in labels and chart. Cosmetic only.
Age / Retire Age — Current age and planned retirement age. Contributions stop at retirement. Spouse 1's age drives the projection timeline.
CPP Age / % Max — Age to start collecting CPP (60–70) and estimated percentage of the maximum CPP benefit you'll receive. 100% = full career of maximum contributions. Check your My Service Canada statement for your actual estimate. Early CPP (before 65) is reduced by 0.6%/month; late CPP (after 65) is increased by 0.7%/month.
OAS Age — Age to start collecting Old Age Security (65–70). Deferring increases the benefit by 0.6%/month (up to 36% at age 70).
RRSP / TFSA Bal — Current combined RRSP and TFSA balances for this spouse.
Non-Reg Bal — Current non-registered investment balance. Tracks cost basis for capital gains.
Monthly: R/T — Monthly RRSP and TFSA contributions during working years. Inflation-adjusted automatically.
Plan to Age — Per-spouse target age for the projection. The timeline runs until the later spouse reaches their plan age. Set higher for the spouse expected to live longer.

Slow-Go Age / % — Age when spending decreases (less travel, activity). Spending goal is multiplied by this percentage.
No-Go Age / % — Age when spending decreases further (limited mobility). A second spending reduction multiplier.
Enable Meltdown / Melt-to Age — RRSP meltdown strategy: forces larger RRSP withdrawals to deplete the RRSP by the target age. Excess (after tax) is swept into TFSA (up to room) then non-registered. Purpose: avoid large forced RRIF withdrawals at high tax rates in later years.
Equal RRSP Draw Split — RRSP draws are split 50/50 between spouses to keep both in lower tax brackets. Falls back to proportional when one spouse's RRSP is depleted.
Smooth Tax Rates — Multi-pass optimization to equalize the effective tax rate across all RRSP-draw years. In low-rate years, pulls extra from the RRSP and shelters it in TFSA. Minimizes total lifetime tax.
TFSA Bracket Opt — Maximum annual TFSA substitution for bracket optimization. If the RRSP draw puts you just above a tax bracket threshold, this much RRSP draw is replaced with a tax-free TFSA draw to avoid the higher marginal rate. Set to $0 to disable.
Gap Year Target Rate % — Maximum effective tax rate Spouse 2 should pay during gap years (when Spouse 2 is retired but Spouse 1 is still working). The engine draws from Spouse 2's RRSP up to this rate, sweeping the net into TFSA. Set higher to pull more during gap years. The sweet spot is typically your smoothed meltdown rate (~13%). Only applies when meltdown is enabled.
Survivor Spending % — Percentage of the couple's spending goal the surviving spouse needs after the other passes. Default 70% — fixed costs like housing remain but many variable costs drop. Applied on top of Slow-Go/No-Go multipliers.

Province — Determines provincial tax brackets, basic personal amount, age credit, and pension credit. Quebec excluded.
Max CPP — Maximum annual CPP retirement benefit at age 65 (current year).
Max CPP2 Annual — Estimated maximum annual CPP2 (enhanced) benefit at full 40-year maturity. Prorated by years of contribution.
Max OAS — Maximum annual OAS benefit. Full OAS requires 40 years of Canadian residence after age 18.
OAS Clawback Start — Net income threshold above which OAS is clawed back at 15%.
Fed Age Amount — Federal age amount tax credit (CRA line 30100). Available at 65+. Clawed back at 15% above ~$45,522 income. Updated via Sync button.
Target Net Goal — Desired annual after-tax spending in retirement (today's dollars). Inflation-adjusted and stage-adjusted.
Pre/Post-Ret Return % — Expected annual investment return before/after retirement. Compounded monthly.
Inflation % — Annual inflation rate. Indexes spending, benefits, brackets, contributions, TFSA room.
System Year — Base year for calculations. Tax values are 2025 base, indexed forward.
TFSA Room/yr/person — Annual TFSA contribution room per person. Inflation-indexed. Overflow goes to non-registered.
Current TFSA Room (total) — Combined unused TFSA contribution room for both spouses right now. Prevents early overflow to non-reg.
Cap Gains Inclusion % — Percentage of capital gains taxable on non-registered withdrawals.

Lump Sums — One-time additions (inheritance, property sale) at a specified age. Allocation: TFSA (up to room) → RRSP (up to cap) → Non-Reg. Split 50/50. Set to 0 to disable.
Contribution Boost — Additional monthly RRSP/TFSA amounts added ON TOP of base contributions at the specified age. Both spouses activate together. Useful for mortgage payoff, kids leaving home.

Solve for Retirement Age — Tests both spouses' retirement age combinations. Shows top 10 earliest viable options.
Solve for Target Net Goal — Finds the maximum sustainable annual spending.
Solve for Additional Monthly RRSP — Finds the minimum extra monthly RRSP contribution needed.
Solve for Optimal CPP/OAS — Tests all 4,356 age permutations for both spouses to maximize the final portfolio.

Tax — Federal + provincial progressive brackets, indexed by inflation. Federal lowest rate 14.5% (2025+). CPP/OAS taxable. TFSA withdrawals tax-free. Ontario surtax modelled. 2025 base values. Federal age amount configurable via input field.

Income Splitting — Spouse 65+ can transfer up to 50% of RRIF draw. Both 65+: all income pooled 50/50. CPP sharing not modelled.

Withdrawal Order — RRSP first → TFSA when depleted → Non-Reg last. TFSA bracket opt can pull small amounts earlier.

Meltdown — Forces RRSP depletion by target age. Floor = RRSP ÷ remaining years. Excess swept to TFSA/Non-Reg. $10 minimum threshold.

Gap Years — When Spouse 2 retires before Spouse 1, Spouse 2 draws from RRSP up to the Gap Year Target Rate to pre-meltdown at a lower rate. Net is swept to TFSA. Spouse 1 continues contributing. Only active when meltdown is enabled.

RRIF Minimums — Mandatory at 72+ (5.28% rising to 20% at 95+). Enforced above spending need.

CPP2 — Auto-calculated from contribution years (2024 to retirement or 70). Partial = years÷40 × max. Same early/late adjustment as CPP.

Growth — Monthly compounding. Contributions inflation-adjusted. TFSA room tracked with overflow to non-reg.

Smoothing — Three-pass: baseline rates → target average → re-run with adjusted draws. Cannot reduce pre-65 rates below spending minimum.

Not Modelled — Employment income, provincial health premiums (ON/BC), GIS, employer pensions (DB/DC), CPP pension sharing. Net worth mixes pre-tax (RRSP) and post-tax (TFSA) dollars. Solvers run without smoothing for speed.