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How to Retire at 55 in Canada: Savings, Pensions and the Years Before CPP

Updated

At 55, a workplace pension plan may allow an early, reduced pension, and federally regulated locked-in money can start to be unlocked. This page covers the savings needed for a retirement of 40 years or more, pensions and locked-in money at 55, and the 5 years before CPP can start. It is part of the early retirement hub.

How much you need

Leaving work at 55 could mean drawing on savings for 40 years. The 4% rule was tested on retirements of 30 years, so the table below assumes 3.5% instead; that is a planning assumption, and a lower rate gives more room.

Spending each year from savingsAmount to have at 55, at 3.5%
$50,000$1,428,571
$70,000$2,000,000
$90,000$2,571,429

Monthly saving by starting age

To fund $50,000 a year from 55, here is what each starting age needs to put away monthly (an assumed 7% real return a year, compounded monthly):

Start saving atYearsA month
3025$1,764
3520$2,742
4015$4,507
4510$8,254

Real returns vary from year to year; you can try other rates in the retirement calculator.

Before CPP and OAS

You can start the CPP retirement pension any time from 60 to 70 (65 is the standard age): it is 0.6% lower for each month before 65 (up to 36% less at 60) and 0.7% higher for each month after (up to 42% more at 70), with no gain from waiting past 70; applying after 65, you can backdate the start up to 11 months, but not before the month after your 65th birthday. Stopping work at 55 also lowers the CPP pension itself; the early retirement hub shows by how much.

Workplace pensions and locked-in money at 55

A workplace pension plan can allow retirement before its normal pension age, with a pension that may be reduced for starting early; the plan’s own rules say from what age, how much, and whether a bridge benefit is paid until CPP and OAS start. Money moved out of a pension plan into a LIRA or LIF stays locked in: A LIF has a yearly minimum (the same factor as a RRIF) and a yearly maximum set by the plan's jurisdiction from its own table, except that Quebec sets no maximum from 55; in the first year the maximum is prorated by the months left. Federally regulated locked-in money can be unlocked when you are 55 or older and hold no more than 50% of the YMPE in total, as a one-time 50% transfer out of a new RLIF within 60 days (55 or older), on financial hardship, after 2 calendar years of non-residency, or with a shortened life expectancy; provincial plans follow their own rules. Provinces have their own unlocking rules (LIRA withdrawal rules).

For drawing on savings, health coverage and the risks of a long retirement, see the early retirement hub.

Sources

The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 22, 2026 and September 30, 2026. How we check facts.