Learn when is the best time to start taking your CPP payments with guest speaker Scott Edgington.

Taking CPP early or deferring until age 70 is a common question with pre-retirees. It’s important to speak with your financial advisor and work through a financial plan.

Knowing in advance your income needs and the projected income of your investments is key to understanding when to begin receiving your CPP benefits.

If you’re like many Canadians, deciding when to begin receiving CPP payments is confusing. In this video, I’ll show you the break-even point for CPP, areas of concern to consider when to taking your CPP benefit, and a live walk-through of the governments’ Retirement Income Planning tool.

The first and most important consideration is; do you need the money? There’s really no point in calculating the break-even on collecting CPP when no matter the result, the issue is you need the income as early as possible.

The next consideration is Longevity. If you have a family history of living to older ages, say well into your 90’s, then delaying your CPP until age 70 is in your favor. However, early family history of deaths suggests taking CPP early to receive at least some benefit. If you choose to take CPP at age 65 vs age 60 it would take 106.7 months to reach break-even.

If you choose to delay until age 65 then by the time you reach age 73.9 you’re now benefiting financially from the increased monthly payments.

Everyone’s situation is different, and having a discussion with your advisor about your income need is the best course of action.

This happens to be the number question for nearly everyone saving for retirement. Asking this question demonstrates your seriousness about achieving your retirement goals. The best way to start is to hire a financial advisor and well…that’s where I can help. Although if you want to try first here’s how to do it:

1️⃣ Begin with the end in mind – How much money will need annually or monthly? If you’re not sure, the average annual expenses spent by a couple in Canada was $57,000 (after-tax).

2️⃣ Government Benefits – Determine how much you expect to receive from Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Old Age Security (OAS). If you receive the average CPP payment, plus OAS, you will have $1,608.29 per month. That’s $19,299.48 per year, gross.

3️⃣ Employer Pension – Will you receive an employer pension?

4️⃣ Passive Income – Do you have any other income streams such as real estate rental income?

5️⃣ Add up all your projected income streams and subtract that from your retirement income need. The difference is the amount of annual income you will need to generate throughout your retirement.

6️⃣ Time value of money – Calculate how much money is needed to produce the annual income needed (the shortfall identified in step 5).