Core practice
Executive & Professional Retirement — Ages 55 to 65
You're a senior executive, incorporated professional, or director within 5-10 years of retirement. The challenge isn't accumulating any more — it's turning what you've built into durable, tax-smart income that doesn't depend on short-term markets.
What we cover
Quantified decisions, not generalities.
- RRSP, RRIF, LIRA, LIF, TFSA decumulation strategy
- Stock-option exercise and taxation
- Individual Pension Plan (IPP) for incorporated owners
- Pension-income splitting between spouses
- QPP, OAS coordination and clawback management
At 55, most of our clients arrive with a patchwork: an $800K to $2M RRSP, a maxed TFSA, a non-registered account, sometimes unexercised stock options, sometimes a holding company. Each piece has been optimized individually — rarely together.
Our job is to orchestrate those sources: when to start drawing down the RRSP, when to defer QPP, when to exercise options, when to convert the LIRA to a LIF. A wrong sequence can cost $200K to $500K of avoidable tax over 25 years.
We project your after-tax income, by year and by source, over 25 to 35 years, stress-tested against inflation, longevity, and a market crash. You leave with a quantified plan — not a qualitative conversation.
Questions
What our clients ask us
Should I take QPP at 60, 65 or 70?
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Deferring QPP from 65 to 70 boosts the lifetime pension by 42% but costs 5 years of payments — breakeven around 81-82. If your family has longevity past 85, deferring almost always wins. We model all three scenarios in your plan.
What is an Individual Pension Plan (IPP)?
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A defined-benefit pension your corporation creates for you. For an incorporated owner aged 50+ on a high salary, contributions run $30K-$50K above the RRSP max, tax-deductible for the corporation. Needs annual actuarial work — not for everyone, but excellent when it fits.
Is it better to withdraw a fixed monthly amount or take money out as needed?
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Regular monthly for most retirees. Three reasons: tax stability, psychological stability (the paycheque rhythm you've always known), and planning simplicity. As-needed withdrawals stay valid if your situation is highly variable but complicate every annual tax calculation.
How long does retirement last today? How many years should we plan for?
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At 65: ~87 for a woman, ~85 for a man — 20 to 25 years on average. For a healthy non-smoking couple, roughly a 1-in-4 chance one of them reaches 95. We project to 95-100, never cutting at 90.
How do I really know if I have enough money for retirement?
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Three steps: a realistic retirement budget (including travel and surprises), a 25-30 year projection accounting for inflation and decumulation sequence, and several risk scenarios. 61% of Canadians fear running out — often wrongly. A numbers-based plan dissolves that fear.
Related services
Integrated Tax Planning
Tax isn't an annual inevitability — it's a variable you can steer. Income splitting, strategic deferral, registered-account optimization, decumulation planning: each lever can mean tens of thousands of dollars over a decade.
Learn morePortfolio Management
Building a portfolio is easy. Building one that walks alongside you for 25 years through every cycle, rebalances automatically, optimizes for tax, and doesn't make you panic in March 2020 — that's our craft.
Learn moreEstate Planning
What you pass on is more than a number — it's a structure. Well-planned, it preserves family harmony, minimizes tax at death, and makes your wealth work for the next generation. Poorly planned, it can destroy both.
Learn moreReady to talk through your situation?
A first meeting, with no obligation and no fee. In person in greater Montréal and Québec City, by video call, or by phone.
Book a consultation