Retirement Drawdown Strategy
Which account do you draw from first once you retire — the RRSP, the TFSA, or your non-registered savings? This tool simulates all three plans year by year to age 95 with real 2026 tax brackets, RRIF minimums and the OAS clawback, then shows which one leaves you more after tax.
Total portfolio by age
Combined RRSP + TFSA + non-registered balance each year, for all three strategies. Where a line hits zero, that plan has run out of money.
Winner's account composition
How the winning plan draws its accounts down over time — the order the money comes out.
Year-by-year plan
The winning strategy in detail: what comes out of each account, the tax you pay, and any OAS clawed back. Highlighted rows are age 71 (RRIF minimums begin) and any year money runs out.
| Age | RRSP | TFSA | Non-reg | Tax | OAS clawed | Portfolio |
|---|
How this is calculated
The three strategies
RRSP first drains the RRSP/RRIF to zero, then non-registered, then the TFSA. TFSA first spends the TFSA, then non-registered, then the RRSP. Blended meltdown takes each year's mandatory RRIF minimum, then draws just enough extra RRSP to fill the low tax brackets (up to the OAS clawback line of $93,454), tops up from non-registered savings, and leaves the TFSA for last.
Each year, solved for after-tax spending
Your spending need is your entered amount inflated: need = spending × (1 + inflation)^years. CPP and OAS are indexed the same way and are taxable. We then solve — by bisection — the gross withdrawals that leave exactly your after-tax need in hand: net = CPP + OAS + withdrawals − tax. Whatever the plan doesn't spend keeps growing at your nominal return.
The tax on each withdrawal
RRSP/RRIF withdrawals are ordinary income. Non-registered withdrawals are taxed only on the gain portion, at the 50% capital-gains inclusion rate — we approximate the taxable gain as withdrawal × gain% × 50% (a constant gain fraction, rather than tracking the adjusted cost base of every lot). TFSA withdrawals are tax-free. Tax runs over the 2026 federal and provincial brackets, after the federal and provincial basic personal amount credits, plus Ontario's surtax and health premium where they apply.
RRIF conversion and minimums
By the end of the year you turn 71 an RRSP must become a RRIF. A mandatory minimum then applies each year — 5.28% of the January-1 balance at 71, climbing to 20% at 95 (CRA factors). Every strategy is forced to take at least this minimum, which is why hoarding the RRSP eventually backfires with a spike of taxable income. (We apply the minimum from 71; strictly, the first required minimum is for the year after conversion, but the one-year difference is immaterial to the comparison.)
The OAS clawback
Net income above the recovery threshold ($93,454, 2025 income year) claws back OAS at 15%, up to your full OAS. RRSP/RRIF income and taxable capital gains count toward it; TFSA withdrawals do not.
Comparing after-tax estates
At 95 we value what's left after tax: the residual RRSP/RRIF is taxed as a lump-sum deemed withdrawal on the final return, only the gain in the non-registered account is taxed, and the TFSA passes tax-free. Comparing raw balances would unfairly flatter a big untouched RRSP.
What this does not model
The pension income credit and pension income splitting at 65 (both can materially cut RRIF-income tax for couples) are not modelled — treat the tax shown as a conservative single-person estimate. Also excluded: GIS, provincial credits and clawbacks beyond those in our data, variable returns and sequence-of-returns risk, RRSP-to-RRIF conversion timing choices, in-kind transfers, and the actual cost base of each non-registered lot (we use a flat gain fraction). Government benefits assume you claim at your retirement age; to optimise when to start CPP and OAS, use the CPP timing calculator. See also retirement savings and RRSP vs TFSA. Rules and rates verified July 2026.