Can I Retire With $1 Million at 65 in Ontario? (2026)

With inflation and increased cost of living in Canada dominating the headlines, retiring at 65 with $1 million in savings is becoming less and less of a sure thing. $1 million doesn't stretch as far as it once did, but with the right planning and knowledge, it can still provide the solid foundation of a secure and fulfilling retirement. The key is knowing how to make your money work smarter and last longer, so if you're aiming to retire at 65 with just $1 million, now's the time to build a plan.

Here at Loonie Nest, our mission is to provide free and affordable personal finance education to Canadians so they can gain confidence in their retirement.

Susan's plan at a glance

On track

$1,000,000

saved at 65

RRSP

$650,000

Taxed as income when withdrawn

TFSA

$150,000

Withdrawals are tax-free

Non-registered

$200,000

Only the capital gain is taxed

Spending after tax, in today's dollars

$60,000

$54,000

$48,000

Age 65–74

Age 75–84

Age 85–95

CPP $1,100 a month from 65

OAS $742 a month from 65

Our $1 Million Retirement Scenario

Let's meet Susan. She's 65, single, and living in Sudbury, ON. Susan spent her career as a dental hygienist at a family dental practice, and she has been saving diligently for her retirement for years. Now that she's ready to retire, she has managed to accumulate $1 million across her various retirement accounts, but she's not quite sure how to convert her retirement savings into income she can rely on year after year.

We'll run Susan's numbers through Scenario Lab+.

Scenario Lab+ is our proprietary retirement planning software. We'll use it to generate and review a tailored retirement plan for her.

To start, here's how Susan's numbers look as she retires at 65:

Susan's plan inputs: her profile, account balances, CPP and OAS, and monthly spending.

Susan's CPP is above average. Susan worked a long career at a solid salary, and her CPP Statement of Contributions shows $1,100 a month if she starts at age 65. If you want a refresher on how both programs work, see our guide to CPP and OAS.

Her spending falls as she ages. Most retirees spend more in their go-go years, and less later on. Susan's plan starts at $5,000 a month and assumes that her spending steps down as she reaches 75 and again at 85. In Scenario Lab+, these steps are the plan's Spending Phases.

A few other important assumptions: all figures are in today's dollars, Susan is single and owns her home with no mortgage, she expects her investments to grow 5% a year, and inflation runs at 2.5% a year.

Susan's retirement budget

Here is how her $5,000 a month breaks down in her first ten years:

Costs vary a lot across the province. Our guide to the best places to retire in Canada compares cities and regions.

Is $1 Million Enough to Retire at 65?

Scenario Lab+'s results: Susan is on track, with money left over at 95.

For Susan, the results say yes. Based on Scenario Lab+'s estimates, she should be able to afford her anticipated expenses, and still have $348,538 left at 95.

That's a better result than a generic 4% rule would suggest. Under the 4% rule, you'd expect her to draw $40,000 a year, falling short of her spending goal of $60,000. But with Scenario Lab+, we were able to calculate a withdrawal of about $44,600 in her first year. Add her CPP and OAS of $22,108 and she will have $66,750 of gross income, or $60,000 after tax to meet her retirement needs.

How Much Income Does $1 Million Provide?

So how much retirement income does a $1M nest egg generate? For Susan, $1 million plus CPP and OAS provides $66,750 of gross income in her first year, which works out to $5,000 a month after tax.

In her first year of retirement, Susan draws on five sources:

Where Susan's income comes from each year, by source.

CPP and OAS bring in $22,108 a year. Without touching her savings, she will have a third of her income paid for life with inflation-indexed pensions. The remaining $44,600 or so comes from her TFSA, RRSP, and non-registered accounts.

Scenario Lab+ uses its Proportional drawdown strategy by default, drawing from every account each year roughly in proportion to its balance. That keeps her taxable income steady from year to year. The Drawdown tab runs the same plan through other withdrawal strategies, such as Sequential and RRSP Meltdown, and compares the lifetime tax of each.

How Much Tax Susan Pays

Susan's tax bill in her first year of retirement, at age 65.

Susan pays $6,750 in income tax in her first year of retirement. That works out to about 10.1% of her gross income.

The rate is so low because only part of what she withdraws is taxable. TFSA withdrawals are tax-free. On her non-registered account, she is taxed only on the capital gain in what she sells, and only half of that gain counts as income. Her CPP, OAS and RRSP withdrawals are fully taxable, and together they come to about $51,000.

She also never loses any OAS to the recovery tax (or clawback). Her taxable income stays far below the point where it starts. Our explainer on the OAS clawback covers how it works and who is affected. To estimate your own bill, try our free Canadian income tax calculator.

How Her Plan Changes Over Time

Year-by-year account balances. Her RRSP becomes a RRIF at 71.

In Scenario Lab+, the Table tab shows every account for every year, and the whole table downloads as an Excel file.

Like many retirees, Susan's retirement will not look the same every year.

At 71, her RRSP becomes a RRIF. Every Canadian has to convert their RRSP by the end of the year they turn 71, and a RRIF has a minimum withdrawal each year. Susan was already withdrawing close to that minimum, so her withdrawals rise only slightly, from $29,017 to $29,778. Our RRIF guide covers the rules.

At 75, her OAS goes up 10%. OAS pays more from age 75, so hers rises from $8,908 to $9,798 a year.

At 75 and 85, her spending steps down. Each drop reduces how much she has to withdraw, which is why her portfolio shrinks more slowly as she gets older.

At the end of her plan at age 95, she will still have $348,538, spread across her RRIF, TFSA, and non-registered account. Susan can either treat this as a legacy, or a buffer (in case she outlives her plan), or she could increase her annual spending to make the most of her retirement savings today.

Based on her numbers, Scenario Lab+ estimates Susan could spend about $562 more every month and still make it to 95.

Income available to Susan compared with what she plans to spend.

Scenario Lab+ shows this in its Recommendations tab, where you can apply the extra spending with one click and see the plan rebuild around it.

But What If We Change the Assumptions?

Modeling Susan's base scenario was the easy part. But what if we started changing some of the variables or assumptions? We took Susan's plan and tested out one assumption at a time.

4 versions of Susan's plan

One assumption changed in each. Charts show the portfolio from 65 to 95 in Scenario Lab+.

Susan's base plan

Spends at 65

$60,000/yr

Money lasts

Past 95

Left at 95

$348,538

Spends $10,000 more a year

Spends at 65

$70,000/yr

Money lasts

To age 91

Left at 95

$0

Delays CPP and OAS to 70

Spends at 65

$60,000/yr

Money lasts

Past 95

Left at 95

$429,111

Earns 3.5% instead of 5%

Spends at 65

$60,000/yr

Money lasts

Past 95

Left at 95

$19,129

Scenario 1

Spends $10,000 more a year

Spends at 65

$70,000/yr

Money lasts

To age 91

Left at 95

$0

Raising Susan's spending by $833 a month in every phase speeds up her drawdown, and her savings run out at 91. Depending on her health and family history, this may be reasonable. She gets to enjoy more of her money early in retirement, when she is most likely to use it, in exchange for planning to a shorter horizon.

The extra spending will also cost more due to taxes. Because most of her withdrawals are taxable, her gross income will rise by $12,688 in her first year to put $10,000 more in her pocket. Her annual tax bill climbs from $6,750 to $9,442.

Scenario 2

Delays CPP and OAS to 70

Spends at 65

$60,000/yr

Money lasts

Past 95

Left at 95

$429,111

Both programs will pay more if you delay payments. CPP rises 42% if you start at 70 instead of 65, and OAS rises 36%. For Susan, delaying her CPP and OAS can mean higher lifetime payments from the government.

The catch is that she will have to fund her early retirement years entirely from savings. By 69 her portfolio is down to $783,301, compared with $891,072 in her original plan. After that, the larger government cheques do more of the work, and she ends her plan at 95 with $429,111, or 23% more than if she started her pensions at 65.

Delaying your pensions is a bet on living a long time. It pays off for Susan because her plan runs to 95, but someone in poor health might reasonably choose differently. Our CPP and OAS break-even calculator shows where that line falls for you.

Scenario 3

Earns 3.5% instead of 5%

Spends at 65

$60,000/yr

Money lasts

Past 95

Left at 95

$19,129

Investment returns can be volatile, so testing her retirement plan at a lower growth rate can help spot the weak points. At 3.5% a year (and 2.5% inflation), Susan's money barely grows faster than cost of living.

Her plan still works, but only just. She reaches 95 with $19,129 left, and the room to spend more disappears.

This should be considered a good sign. Even with a low growth rate, Susan's retirement plan looks relatively sound. Few retirees hold only stocks, but even a balanced mix of stocks and bonds has historically grown well above 3.5% a year over long periods. That makes 3.5% a very conservative assumption to plan around.

Your $1 Million Is Not Susan's $1 Million

So is $1 million enough to retire at 65? For Susan it is, with room to spare. But her plan is a starting point, not an answer for anyone else.

Two people with exactly $1 million can end up with very different retirements. What they spend, how much CPP and OAS they receive, how their savings are split between accounts, and when they retire can make all the difference. The scenarios above show how far one change can move the result, and your numbers will differ from Susan's in more ways than one.

If you're planning to stop earlier, see how the same $1 million works for Michael at 60 and Nicole at 55. If you've saved closer to $500,000, Linda's plan at 65 is the one to read.

The bigger risk is assuming $1 million is enough without running your own scenario.

That's why we built Scenario Lab+.

It is the software behind every number in this article. Give it your own accounts and spending, and it builds the same year-by-year plan for you, including every what-if above. If you'd like to see it first, Susan's full plan is open to explore.