Retirement

What Is Retirement Planning?

Retirement planning is preparing for a period when employment income may fall or stop and spending must be supported by pensions, benefits and accumulated assets.

4 min

Retirement 101 • 01

Retirement changes where your spending money comes from.

Instead of relying mainly on employment income, you may rely on public pensions, workplace pensions, savings and investments.

Planning connects future spending with future income.

The goal is not to guess one perfect number. It is to understand the pieces that will fund your life.

Retirement planning can include

01Expected spending02CPP and OAS03Workplace pensions04RRSPs and TFSAs05Other savings and investments06Taxes and inflation

Saving for retirement and living in retirement are different stages.

01

Accumulation

You are adding money and allowing it to grow.

02

Drawdown

You are using assets and income sources to fund spending.

Retirement can last a long time.

Retire atExample age 65
Plan throughExample age 90
Years to fund25
PointTime matters

Retirement planning is not only an investment problem.

Housing, health, taxes, public benefits, work choices and spending can matter as much as portfolio returns.

Start with four questions.

01When might I retire?02What might I spend?03What income sources will I have?04What assets will fill the gap?

Remember this

Retirement planning is a cash-flow plan for a different stage of life.

Know the future sources of money and the spending they need to support.

Lesson complete

Reviewed 2026-08-18

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