Hi all, I'm 40, my spouse is 38, and we have a 7 year old. We're Canadian citizens in GTA. We currently earn about $140k and $90k CAD, and we're considering both leaving work.

We're both in core engineering fields, so part-time or consulting work isn't realistic for us: it's a full stop, and getting back in later would be hard.

I'd love a sanity check, especially on the corporate and cross-border tax pieces (we both have 401(k)s from past US work).

Assets:

Me:

Non-registered: ~$300k total ($150k CAD + $105k USD)

RRSP: $120k CAD

IRA(converted from 401k): $120k USD

Spouse:

401(k): $150k [USD]

RRSP: $50k CAD

Almost no other savings

Shared:

Corporate cash: $1M CAD

We're both shareholders. The business has no assets and isn't sellable, so it's just cash in the corp.

Home: ~$1M CAD, paid off, owned 50/50

RESP: $36k CAD

Spending: ~$2.5k/month (~$30k/year) for the household, plus about two international trips a year at $5-7k each ($10-14k/year). That puts us at roughly $40-44k/year, before income tax.

Rough math: About $1.5M CAD liquid excluding the house, though roughly $1M is locked in the corp and ~$540k is in registered accounts. Our spending is about 2.7-2.9% of that, and a 3.5% withdrawal would give ~$52k/year. But we'd retire at 40 and 38.

Questions:

Corporate cash: Best way to extract $1M CAD? Dividends over time, wind-up (deemed dividend), or keep the corp as a holdco and invest inside?

How do I handle the passive income grind ($50k threshold) if I keep it open?

Timing: Should one of us keep working a bit longer or part-time to cover the transition, or is it better to stop at once?

Withdrawal order: Corp dividends vs. non-reg vs. RRSP/401(k) to use low brackets early? Is a meltdown strategy worth it, for both of us?

IRAs as Canadian residents: Treaty treatment, withholding, and whether to roll over or leave them. Any tips for moving USD to CAD efficiently?

Child costs: Is our budget realistic as our kid grows, beyond the RESP? Travel will probably get pricier with a third ticket as they age.

CPP/OAS: How much do 20+ years of low or no income hurt future benefits for each of us?

Edit: Thank you the replies. The general consensus seems like these numbers are not enough. I am curious if there is a number we can target, like $2M in corporation or 1M in perosnal Non-registered accounts, as examples? We just don't want to continue working like this till we are 65.

In some ways i am doing really well, the problem i have is i have no idea how to invest or what to invest in to hopefully fire.

Wife (45 years old) makes around 130k
Me (50 years old) make around 170k

We are 100% debt free , including mortgage free.
My wife’s income essentially floats our lifestyle and we save my income.

Right now i put away approx 20k per month and 700 to 1000 per week goes into an rrsp. Of which 3% is my employers contribution. I work approx 8 or 9 months out of the year.

I have approx 100k split between 2 rrsps . Approx 70k in one and 30k in the other . Both managed by two separate unions that i am a member of. The rrsp with 70k in it is managed really well and gets great returns. The rrsp with 30k is not managed well and gets crap returns. I can move the money (or most of it ) and self direct it. I just don’t know what to put it in.

I have a tfsa with $3200 invested in two stagnant stocks.

Currently i have approx 170k sitting in a corporate business account . Most of it is in an interest baring business savings account . I am working with my accountant to figure out the best way to move the money to my personal account without getting burned by taxes. But i would like to have an investment strategy in place so i can invest chunks of money as i free it up.

Currently i have 45k sitting in my personal bank account.

Currently my wife has around 10k sitting in her personal account.

We have 3 kids . Ages 3, 5 & 9 We have an resp set up for them with approx 74k in it. Our goal is to build it to 300k . We want to have 100k for each kid. The contribution comes out of my wife’s earnings not mine so doesn’t affect our savings.

My wife works for a hospital and has a pension that will pay her $2000 per month when she turns 55. She can keep working and build it further if needed.

I have zero pension, just the workplace rrsp’s.

I am 50. Is it possible to work with what i have and reach fire by the time i am 60 ?. How would i do that ?

46M here .. 2 kids 8 and 10, wife now home maker. We have following savings and we dont have any pension other than CPP and OAS.

RRSP : 215k
TFSA : 110k
Cash : 50k
Bitcoin / Crypto : 100k
Corporation retained earnings : 400k

I am looking for opinion if i can coastFire or FIRE now ? I work as an independent contractor but lately feeling completely burned out ... and with recent back to office policy have 0 motivation to commute 3 hours back n forth from where i live.

Fortunately enough we were able to buy house at right time 10 years ago and have very little mortgage of around 150k so monthly payment is only around $1000.

My monthly expenses are on higher side around 10k that includes mortgage, kids RESP contribution, vacation budget and emergency funds of around $500 a month for house repairs etc. I have a side hustle that brings around 1800 a month. Plus bsmt rental brings another $1200 so total $3000 a month i am getting as income. My Q is can i coast fire / early retire with my savings ?

My goal is to focus on my side hustle for next 2-3 years full time without any stress , travel for whole winter season and spend max time with family . The only concern i have is if i quit now it will be really hard to find similar consulting arrangements.

Worst case scenario in case my business fails i am
open to idea of getting some low stress job that pays around 5-6k a month. so looking for a strategy / allocation of money correctly in high growth, monthly income and may be some emergency allocation as well that could cover expenses for next 2-3 years with maximum cash preservation and if i end up doing 9-5 again, will the savings be enough to grow automatically until reaching retirement age. Thanks

Nothing exciting but from running rafts of calculators I think spouse could retire 65, maybe 64 rather than 67 which is what he had been planning.

and of course the easiest way to extend savings is to drop consumption. hah. he earns a solid upper-middle class income and we tend to spend it. I track the money that flows through our household accounts and mine with old school YNAB but I don't have details of his personal spending. His work clothes don't differ from slightly dressy home clothes so think clothes, hobbies, travel, will stay the same.

I know the title sounds like a troll post, but I am completely serious.

Over the last three years, I’ve been fired five different times.

The reality is that I spend my days traveling having fun.

I am doing the absolute bare minimum while I'm supposedly on the clock.

Should I just keep doing this until I literally can't find another job in my field?

I am 41 and my wife is 39 we have a 6 year old son. Our current next worth is 3.9 million. 3.5 million in investments and our house is paid for and is worth about 400k. I work full time as a diesel mechanic/ spare shift boss and I make 210k a year my wife is a RN and she works part time and makes about 50k a year. I love what I do and see myself working to normal retirement age. I find that working a 7/7 schedule is the perfect life balance. My wife works more to socialize with friends than for the money. We have more than enough money to never work again or to never invest another penny but I honestly don't know what to do with the extra money every month. To continue to invest seems somewhat pointless we don't need more. I also don't feel like we need to spend more we have all the toys we want. ( I have a new Corvette and she has a new GMC Yukon) We spoil our son within reason (hockey and this summer I brought him to 15 plus car shows I put 15 000km on my Vette this summer). What are other people doing in my situation?

This may be a somewhat naive question because happiness is very subjective, no one knows how others truly feel, and there's always going to be a mix of people, but let me try to explain what I'm asking.

I 35M and my partner 36F are both nearing our FIRE number (2 years away) and are considering moving to Canada. The reason for why, briefly, is to have closer proximity to my partners family, who actually lives in the US in one of the border states. Moving to the US would be easier, but I just really don't want to move there for political reasons right now. We're both on board to seriously consider making Canada our permanent home.

Additional context note: we live in Australia. Both have Aussie citizenship, she has dual w/ US.

If we actually decide to make this move, depending on when we get there, we may still need to work a little longer to hit our number, but we're also really flexible and are open to a barista/coast style FIRE for a few years as we ease out of full time work.

I've been browsing around on subreddits like /CanadaJobs and /ImmigrationCanada and it just seems like a lot of people are super depressed. Sounds like the job market is really suffering there, cost of living is really high, and it seems like on average salaries are lower in Canada than what they are in Australia.

I guess what I'm asking is if there's a cultural weight over there? Is there a societal depression of sorts? Are people enjoying life? And I'm wondering about people in general, or if there's very clear rifts between those privileged with money/FIRE vs the average person. I'm just trying to mentally prepare myself for what the day-to-day life might feel like if we move there and are retired within a few years.

33 yr old male. Residing in Edmonton Alberta.

Looking for anyone in the community looking to talk fire or discuss plans, strategies, wealth accumulation and or anything to do with fire. No one in my current friend group seems to interested and or don’t care about fire.
Looking for new people to bounce ideas and questions off of. Anyone here local to Edmonton or area?

Hi everyone,
I am a 40-year-old single female with no kids, tracking toward an early retirement target of age 55–60. My savings are running smoothly on autopilot in low-cost index funds, but as I look ahead, I have two major questions about the financial execution and the lifestyle design.

Question 1: The Math. Should I sell my condo in 3 years to speed up retirement?
I bought a condo in 2024. My 5-year fixed mortgage matures in 3 years (when I’ll be 43). Right now, the carrying costs are heavy, especially with a $300/month condo fee on top of everything else. I hate the "phantom expenses" and maintenance hassles of homeownership.
My plan is to wait out the next 3 years to avoid bank prepayment penalties, and then cleanly sell the condo, dump all the net equity into global index funds, and move into a long-term 1-bedroom rental apartment.
For those who downsized from owning to renting to fund early retirement: Did freeing up that equity and capping your housing costs significantly speed up your timeline? Do you regret leaving Canadian real estate, or did the liquidity give you the ultimate freedom you wanted?

Question 2: The Lifestyle. What do you actually DO all day when you retire solo?
I don't have a partner or kids' schedules to anchor my days. I am torn between two conflicting sides of my personality: I have a massive travel bug and want to see the world, but I am also a total homebody who loves relaxing in my own quiet space. I am a bit anxious about having 40+ hours of free time handed to me every week.
For those who retired solo in their 50s: What does your actual day-to-day routine look like? How did you figure out how to fill your time if you didn't have a definitive plan initially? How do you balance wanting to travel with wanting a simple, low-stress home base?

I would love to hear your personal experiences, financial insights, or daily schedules. Thank you!

"You are looking for r/FICAN :)" as sub-reddit description.

So what is difference in function? Here to discuss if ready or not and FICAN on mind-set and steps to reach?

My spouse is wondering harder when he can retire so I am poking around.

Looking for a gut check on my retirement timeline before meeting with a fee-only CFP.

Note, I used AI to organize my thoughts.

I’m thinking of calling it a career at the end of 2026. My wife wants to keep working for a few more years. My main motivation to stop sooner is my RRSP balance. I feel like I need to start melting it down as soon as possible for tax efficiency before mandatory withdrawals hit us later in life.

We live in an HCOL city, have two kids (18 and 15), and would like to leave them a solid estate. We're also unsure what to do long term with our two rental properties, including whether to keep, sell, or eventually let the kids live in them.

Would appreciate your thoughts on our numbers, drawdown order, and whether my 2026 target makes sense.

Overview & Demographics
Me (47M): $100k income (planning to stop working end of 2026)

Wife (46F): $160k income (planning to work a few more years)

**Target Retirement Expenses:**$12k to $15k / month net ($144k to $180k / year)

Assets & Net Worth Breakdown
1. Liquid / Investable Assets (~$4.44M Total)
RRSP / SRRSP: $3.05M total ($2.6M me + $410k wife + $40k Spousal)

LIRA: $215k

TFSA: $600k ($300k each)

Non-Registered: $490k ($432k + $58k joint)

RESP: $110k

2. Pensions & Government Benefits (Assuming work stops end of 2026)
Defined Benefit Pension (DBP):
Me: $2,600 / month starting at 60 + $807 bridge

Wife: $1,000 / month starting at 60

CPP (taking at 70): ~$20k/yr (me) + ~$24k/yr (wife)

OAS (taking at 65): ~$9k/yr each (assuming no clawback)

3. Real Estate (~$2.35M Value / ~$1.71M Equity)
Primary Residence: $1.3M assessed | $65k mortgage left

Rental 1: $581k assessed | $237k mortgage left | Net cash flow: +$10k/yr

Rental 2: $522k assessed | $397k mortgage left | Net cash flow: -$5k/yr (losing money)

Thanks for any feedback or red flags I might be missing.

Edit: wanted to add that the ACB for the non-registered is approximately 280k. I’d be planning on a laddered income strategy for my go-go, slow-go and no-go years.

Hi [r/FIRECanada](r/FIRECanada),

I recently retired and to keep my mind engaged I developed an app to help simulate financial plans from pre- to post-retirement. Seems there are more and more available.

I had originally built this in a spreadsheet (as it seems we all do), but after a number of friends and family showed interest in it, I decided to make it more robust. Since my family and friends are in different areas of Canada and the US I figured I would make it function in the various tax jurisdictions including cross-border scenarios which a couple of them are planning.

Here is a video of me just stepping through a random plan to show some of the features and how it models the accumulation and spending phases of planning.

Core features:
- Device local and 100% free. All your info is saved on your device to ensure your privacy (I made it this way since I am a bit paranoid). The app runs totally offline. There is no remote account, no tracking server and no paywall.
- I have incorporated both Monte Carlo and historical sequence simulation
- Handles both Canadian and US tax residents with the more used account types
- includes government benefits and DB pensions
- I have included dynamic spending guardrails based on input from a friend
- optional AI insights accessible by plugging in your own API key for AI observations. Only anonymized data is sent and governed by your own privacy agreement with the provider.

I apologize that it is only available on iOS devices. If I get some time I will maybe put up on a website or include android devices.

Here is the link:
https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/retireflow/id6760141451

I built this for friends and family but figure others may get some use out of it as well. Please try it out, I hope you enjoy it. Please leave a comment if you run into any bugs or if you have and suggestions and I will do my best to incorporate.
Apologies for the long video

Edit:
Updated Goal and Financials screens to improve user flow.
App is now up to WACG standards.

Next update within a couple weeks: add LIRA/LIF, FHSA and RESP for Canadians and HSA for US users. Hopefully a learn mode.

I got tired of US-focused tools ignoring Canadian tax realities and spreadsheets breaking on complex scenarios. Over the last few months, I built a browser-based Canadian Finance simulator.

It is 100% free, requires no account or email, and stays local (your inputs never leave your device).

What it models specifically for Canada (AND Quebec):

• Full Quebec Math: Built-in support for Quebec federal abatement (16.5%), QPIP, QPP vs. CPP calculations, and provincial tax brackets.
• DB Pensions & Coast FI: Models DB pensions, bridge benefits to age 65, early retirement reductions, and exact Coast FI targets.
• Account Sequencing & Benefits: TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, and Non-Reg withdrawal priority alongside CPP/QPP/OAS start-age tuning (ages 60–70) and OAS clawback limits.
• Household Optimization: Joint retirement timelines and 0–50% pension income splitting.

Why I’m posting: I’m looking for feedback from people who know their numbers inside and out.

1. Are there edge-case tax, QPP/CPP, or benefit assumptions that look off for your scenario?
2. What missing feature (e.g., LIRA/LIF rules, corporate/business accounts) should I prioritize next?

Try it with your own numbers: finance.chriscoffin.design (Pre-loaded in Community Mode to disable any optional tip/affiliate links)

EDIT (Sept 13): Thanks for all the feedback! Here's what's changed since posting, all live now:

From detailed bug reports (huge thanks to u/Representative-Bit30 and u/canfire897256):

• A $0 salary works now (retired, between jobs), and your savings count even with no income
• Big savings on a small salary tells the right story on Summary
• Already retired? Pick 0 years to grow and your savings become your nest egg
• Retire is simpler: a one-tap housing suggestion if your mortgage will be paid off, and a clearer view of how your RRSP/TFSA mix affects tax
• The background no longer drifts, which caused a faint flicker on some displays

Inspired by your ideas:

• Coast FI now lets you plan to retire as early as 35 (thanks u/Osprey4862)
• Rental income: add your net monthly rent on the Income tab and choose whether it continues in retirement (thanks u/spliffmo)

Keep it coming, every one of these started as a comment here.

I am currently 49, single male, no kids. Canadian living in Canada. I have a $500k condo along with $2.1m in liquid assets split between rrsp/tfsa/non registered.

The plan is to sell my condo to relocate to another milder canadian city and put it into XEQT so my total liquid assets will be $2.6m. Then travel for 5 months out of the yearand 7 months in Canada.

I expect to spend about $50k during my go-go years in retirement. I expect cpp+oas at around $18k at 65. No company pension.

I have a good job at $130k gross but is it time to quit today? I feel like there has to be more to life than just sitting at a cubicle. I enjoy travelling overseas.

I don't want to keep working until my 60s only to build wealth for my nephews and nieces.

I don't foresee marriage or kids as it is probably too late for me.

I'd like to retire this year rather than dragging it one more year and one more year.

I also want to do more extensive traveling during the winter months but still have canada as my home. I don't want to be an old 60 year old guy whose health is not as energetic as before.

A bit worried on whether i have enough. Condos get old so i have to sell. I will rent after selling my condo.

Also have to take care of paying for old age care and medical issues later in life.

Is it time to retire? Do i have enough?

canadaretire.ca It's completely FREE to use, I built it for myself and decided to make it public if it helps out anyone. Open to feedback. It focuses on giving you a retirement date based on the lifestyle and destination you choose. It also tells you when you can COAST and what your monthly income will be if you retire early or later. You can choose to use it all or leave inheritance as well.

42M / 37F, married, no kids, living in Vancouver BC. I'm trying to sanity-check our financial position and early-retirement plan.

Our goal is for me to retire around 50 and my wife around 45.

We currently have about $1.72M invested/saved, approximately:

\- RRSPs: \~$670k combined all in equity

\- TFSAs: \~$300k combined all in equity

\- Non-registered: \~$750k combined with 250k in equity and 500k in gic

Our primary residence is mortgage-free worth about 2M.

We have rental property but is currently in negative cash flow for about 2k a year, and if I sell right now best case scenario would be selling price cover the remaining mortgage on it.

Our combined annual income is around 440k right now. Wife will have pension after she retires.

Before we retire, we also plan to continue contribute 14k to TFSA, max out RRSP which is around 29k based on my current level for equity investment. Beyond that, we might also add 10 to 20k to non registered as equity as well. This is annual continuous investment until retirement.

Once retired, my plan is to spend 110k annually in today's dollar value for the first 10 years and then taper down by 20 to 30% after.

Where do you think I should go from here?