r/CanadianRetirement

Came across something in some Canadian retirement research that surprised me, and it keeps showing up the more I dig into it.

A lot of the Canadian research (CIRANO, some StatsCan work, and a few academic studies on RRIF withdrawal behaviour) suggests the typical Canadian retiree doesn't actually spend down their savings the way the standard advice assumes. The median household leaves a meaningful chunk of their RRSP, RRIF, TFSA, and home equity behind. Bill Perkins makes the global version of this argument in Die With Zero, but the Canadian data is striking because we also have CPP and OAS as a guaranteed income floor. In theory that should make people less reluctant to spend down their personal savings, not more.

Meanwhile, almost every "how much do I need to retire" calculator and rule of thumb out there (the 4% rule, FIRE math, and so on) is built on the assumption that you will smoothly drain your nest egg to roughly zero by life expectancy.

So a few possibilities:

1. Canadians are systematically saving too much and spending too little because we are risk averse, and end up missing decades of enjoyment we could have afforded.
2. The drawdown to zero framing is fundamentally wrong because it ignores how real households behave: loss aversion, fear of long term care costs, wanting to leave the cottage or RRSP to kids.
3. The data is skewed by people who died early or had estates dominated by home equity that is hard to spend without selling.

Curious what people here think. Is there a real "leave it to the kids" cultural factor in Canada? Anyone here had a parent or grandparent who clearly underspent in retirement, and what was it like to watch from the outside? And for those of you currently planning, are you actually targeting zero, or quietly assuming you will leave a buffer?

Hi, my wife and I are newly retired (April 2026). I'm handling the financial planning end of things.

My understanding is that the CRA makes you pay quarterly installments if your tax owing is more than $3,000 in the current year and either of the previous two years. I've read a lot about people trying to avoid having to pay these quarterly installments, and I guess I have a couple of questions.

First, what is the point of avoiding CRA installments (presumably to keep money earning interest/gains longer) if avoiding the installments involves having appropriate deductions taken off at source anyway? Isn't it six of one, half-dozen of the other? Same same?

Second--is there a good resource anyone can recommend that explains simply and in detail where/how to calculate tax owing, walks through the process, what to do if you find you're above $3,000 and you want to avoid CRA installments, etc?

I’m retired, and I’ve already put together a practical document for my spouse in case something ever happens to me. It’s not a legal will, just a clear guide with the important information they would need.

Mine includes things like pension details, financial and life‑insurance contacts, information on bills, credit cards, and even instructions on how to access my accounts.

I’m curious how many others here have created something similar or another system to help your surviving spouse navigate everything more easily?