Evaluate Needs & Income
Evaluate Needs and Income
Before you make your retirement decisions, you should know what you can expect from all sources of income and consider your retirement needs using this Retirement Income and Expenses worksheet (en français).
- Do I have any children or dependants living at home?
- Do I have major expenses coming my way?
- What is my life expectancy? And my partner’s life expectancy (if applicable)?
- What type of lifestyle do I want to have?
- Will I be earning any income after I retire?
- How much income will I receive during retirement?
- Do I have income coming from other sources?
- How will taxes affect my retirement income?
Government-sponsored programs
This includes the income you receive from programs such as the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS). Depending on your income, it may also include government supplements. CPP and OAS encourage you to call them directly at 1-800-277-9914 to determine when you are eligible and how much you can expect to receive.
Personal savings
This includes your personal investments – savings in the form of RRSPs for example, and other assets. You may also have property or a business that you will sell when you retire. If so, include this income in your personal savings.
The employer portion – Your TRAF pension
TRAF was set up by the province to administer your pension plan. Part of our job is to make sure you are prepared for your retirement by providing the information you need to make informed retirement decisions.
It is important that you know how much pension you will be entitled to receive. Once you have determined your retirement date, register for and log in to Online Services to use the pension estimator and explore how different “what if” scenarios would affect your pension. You can also access annual statements, which provide various estimated amounts. Or if your retirement date is within one year, you may call us for an estimate. You can request an estimate for more than one retirement date. If you are retiring within the next 18 months, a pension application will be included with your information package.