Compare two ways a couple could draw down their RRSPs and RRIFs in retirement, such as filling the lowest tax bracket each year versus withdrawing up to the OAS clawback line, and see how each one changes taxes, income and the estate over time.
Enter both people’s ages and balances, choose a strategy for Scenario A and Scenario B, and run the comparison. Results use 2026 federal and provincial tax rules.
Blank on purpose — nothing is pre-loaded, saved, or sent anywhere. Fill in any two people's numbers (illustrative or real) and run the comparison.
Person 1
RRIF is assumed to have started (or starts automatically at 71).
Person 2
RRIF is assumed to have started (or starts automatically at 71).
Household assumptions
Scenario A
Scenario B
Recalculates instantly — nothing leaves your browser.
Enter both people's ages and account balances above, then click Run comparison.
Scenario comparison
Total household net worth over time
Scenario AScenario B
Methodology & known limitations
Tax rules: 2026 federal brackets plus your choice of British Columbia or Alberta provincial brackets, basic personal amount, age amount (65+) with each jurisdiction's own published phase-out range, pension income amount, and the OAS recovery tax (clawback) threshold — all current published figures, indexed forward with your inflation assumption.
Only BC and Alberta are modelled so far. Ontario isn't built in yet — say the word and it can be added the same way.
Capital gains inclusion rate is held at 50% (the 2024 proposal to raise it to 66.67% above $250k was formally cancelled).
RRIF minimum withdrawals use the standard CRA prescribed factor table; RRSPs are treated as already-converted RRIFs, or convert automatically at age 71.
Non-registered growth is split into interest/foreign income (taxed annually as ordinary income), Canadian eligible dividends, and capital gains (taxed only on the portion "turned over" each year — the rest compounds tax-deferred until the end of the projection).
No pension income splitting, TFSA re-contributions, probate/legal fees, principal-residence or other real assets, or provincial surtaxes — none of these are modelled in this version.
TFSA and non-registered balances are never drawn on for spending — only CPP, OAS and RRSP/RRIF withdrawals fund the household's target income. TFSA/non-reg simply compound and pass into the estate. This under-states real-world flexibility (a household might tap the TFSA instead of over-withdrawing from the RRIF in a high-income year).
Death/estate figures assume both people pass away at the end age in the same year, with RRSP/RRIF fully taxed as income in that year (no other income netted against it) and non-registered accrued gains taxed at the top marginal rate — a simplified, slightly conservative estimate of the real terminal tax return.
This tool is meant to compare strategies against each other, not to reproduce SnapProjections (or any commercial planning software) to the dollar. Treat absolute figures as directional; treat the A-vs-B pattern as the useful output.