The questions I hear most from Canadians are always the same three. Which account do I draw from first? When should I start CPP? How do I keep my income under the OAS clawback? They are the right questions. And a single-number calculator cannot answer any of them.

Type your savings into most retirement tools and you get one figure back. "You'll have enough." It feels reassuring for about ten seconds. Then you realize it told you nothing about how to actually live off that money, year by year, without handing more to the CRA than you need to.

That is the gap we built Optiml to close. It is not a calculator. It is a full, year-by-year, tax-aware model of your entire retirement, built around the Canadian system you actually retire into. Here is a walkthrough of the features I would tell you to use first, and why each one matters.

Start with the whole picture, not a single number

Every Optiml plan models your complete retirement horizon year by year, and sequences your withdrawals across every account to minimize your lifetime tax bill.

This runs automatically. You do not click a button called "optimize." The moment you build your profile, Optiml looks at your RRSP, TFSA, non-registered accounts, CPP, OAS, and any pension, and works out the order and the amounts to draw from each, in each year, to keep your lifetime taxes as low as possible.

A calculator answers "do I have enough?" Optiml answers the harder question: "given everything I have, what is the smartest way to spend it down?" That is the difference between a number and a plan.

See exactly what makes up your tax bill

The Detailed Taxes page breaks down your income tax, year by year, so you can see precisely what you are paying and why.

This is the first place I send people. It shows your income by source in every year, which accounts are driving your taxable income, how your dividends and capital gains are treated, and, critically, when you are getting close to the OAS clawback. For the 2026 income year, the OAS recovery tax claws back 15 cents of every dollar of net income above $95,323. Cross that line and a chunk of your OAS starts disappearing.

When you can see the years where clawback bites, you can plan around them. Draw a little more from your TFSA here, a little less from your RRIF there, and the shape of your tax bill changes.

Find the right age to start CPP and OAS

The CPP & OAS Optimizer models the exact start age for your benefits based on your full financial picture, not a generic rule of thumb.

The mechanics matter here. Take CPP before 65 and it drops 0.6% for every month early. Defer it past 65 and it grows 0.7% a month, up to 42% more at 70 (in Quebec, QPP can defer to 72). OAS grows 0.6% a month if you wait, up to 70, and Optiml applies the automatic 10% bump at 75.

A generic table tells you the average Canadian should probably wait. It does not know your RRSP balance, your other income, or your spouse's situation. Optiml runs the actual math on your actual numbers and shows you the start age that leaves the most in your pocket over your lifetime.

Choose what you are actually optimizing for

You decide what the plan is built to achieve, and Optiml optimizes around that goal.

Not everyone wants the same retirement. Some people want to spend every dollar they can while they are healthy and active. Others want to leave the most possible behind. Both are valid. So you pick the objective, and the whole plan reshapes around it.

Same accounts, same numbers, completely different plans depending on what you tell it you want.

Test any "what if" before you live it

Compare Plans puts two full retirement scenarios side by side so you can see the tradeoff before you commit to it.

This is the feature people fall in love with. Retire two years earlier. Spend more in your Go-Go years. Sell the cottage at 72. Defer a pension. Whatever the decision, you build it as a second plan and lay it next to your current one.

You see, in dollars, exactly what it costs and what it buys: the impact on your spending, on what you leave behind, and on your lifetime taxes. No more wondering whether you can afford to retire early. You can watch it play out on the screen first.

Take full manual control when you need it

Custom Plan lets you override any deposit and any withdrawal, in any account, in any year, and your changes save.

The optimized plan is still the best starting point. But sometimes the math does not match your real life. Maybe you know you want a big TFSA withdrawal in a specific year for a trip. Maybe you want to hold a little more in your RRSP than the model suggests. Custom Plan hands you the controls to build it your way, year by year, and then compare it against the optimized version to see what your choices cost or save.

Optimization for the smart default. Full control for when you want it. You get both.

Stress-test the plan against hundreds of markets

Your Success Score is a retirement resilience score out of 100, generated by a Monte Carlo simulation that stress-tests your plan against 50 market scenarios drawn from over 50,000 generated return paths.

A plan that works in a calm, average market is easy to build. The real question is whether it holds up when markets do what markets actually do. Success Score runs your full plan against 50 market scenarios, each drawn from over 50,000 generated return paths, and reports back how often it fully funds the lifestyle you want.

A score of 100 means your plan funds your desired lifestyle in every scenario tested. A lower score is not a failure, it is a flag. It tells you your plan is vulnerable to a rough sequence of returns or a stretch of high inflation, and it gives you the chance to adjust while you still have time.

Ask questions about your own plan

EVA is Optiml's AI assistant, and it answers questions grounded in your own numbers, not generic advice off the internet.

This is the feature I reach for most when a member asks me "why did it do that?" EVA can explain why a particular withdrawal sequence was chosen, what is driving your tax bill in a given year, or what happens if you change an input. It is available on every plan, and because it is reading your actual plan, the answers are about your retirement, not a hypothetical one.

Handles the complex end, too

Optiml models the complicated situations most tools leave out.

• Rental properties and private equity with capital gains, depreciation, and sale timing all modelled.
• Incorporated Canadians with HoldCo and OpCo structures, trusts, and corporate estate planning built in on the Legacy plan.
• RDSP accounts with CDSG and CDSB government matching fully accounted for.

If your situation is straightforward, none of this gets in your way. If it is not, it is all there.

Built for Canada, by Canadians

Optiml applies Canadian tax rules end to end, because those rules are the whole point.

RRSP and RRIF minimum withdrawals. TFSA and FHSA room. CPP and OAS mechanics. The OAS clawback threshold. Pension income splitting for couples. These are not add-ons. They are the system you retire into, and modelling them precisely is the difference between a plan that works in Canada and a generic projection that does not.

Your data is stored in Canada, we are PIPEDA compliant, and more than 150,000 retirement plans have been run through the platform, with a 4.8 out of 5 rating from the Canadians who use it. Our Pro+ and Legacy plans also include unlimited 1:1 calls with a real person on our team, so if you ever want a human to look at your plan with you, that is included, not sold separately.

The Bottom Line

A calculator hands you one number and sends you on your way. The features above exist because retirement is not one number. It is hundreds of small decisions about sequencing, timing, and tax, and they compound over 30 years.

You can build a complete plan with a 14-day free trial, or start with Optiml Lite for a free snapshot of where you stand today. Either way, you will see your own numbers, in your own plan, built around the Canadian system.

A calculator gives you a number. Optiml gives you a plan.