I built a free RRSP meltdown calculator that models CPP/OAS deferral and the terminal tax bomb — looking for feedback
I’ve been answering withdrawal-sequencing questions here for a while, and the same thing kept coming up: people understood the concept of an RRSP meltdown but had no way to see the magnitude for their own numbers.
So I built a calculator. You enter your account balances (RRSP, LIRA, TFSA, non-registered), your province, spending, and expected returns. It runs a full meltdown simulation across every CPP start age (60–70) and OAS start age (65–70), picks the combination that maximizes after-tax estate, and compares it to the naive default of taking everything at 65 with no meltdown.
It models the stuff that actually moves the number: combined federal/provincial brackets indexed to inflation, OAS clawback, RRIF minimums, LIF maximums, capital gains with ACB tracking, and the terminal tax on death. The assumptions and limitations are all documented in the tool — it’s a single-person model, no dividend tax credit, etc.
It’s free, no email, no signup: https://100krrspmistake.ca/calculator/
Disclosure: this is the companion tool to a book I wrote on the topic. The calculator is completely free and standalone — I’m not gating anything behind the book. Mentioning it for transparency, not as a pitch.
Feedback on the assumptions is especially welcome.