New Feature
Check Survivor Safety
MayRetire now allows you to visualize the financial impact of an early death, helping you ensure the surviving spouse’s retirement plan remains secure.
Trusted by Canadians • 7,000+ plans created
Take control of your
retirement planning.
Whether you rely on RRSPs, TFSAs and government benefits or manage a complex mix of Corporate Accounts, Rentals, and Defined Benefit Pensions, MayRetire brings it all together into one clear, tax-efficient plan.
Intuitive by Design
Minimal complexity. Maximum clarity.
A Canadian retiree's greatest fear is that they will run out of money. MayRetire cuts out the busywork, allowing you to plan the future—and see your future. You can retire with confidence when you see your cash flow plan laid out in clear fashion.
- Complete Income Modeling
- See your whole financial picture. Model standard accounts (RRSP, TFSA, Non-Registered) alongside complex assets like Corp Investment Accounts and Rental Properties. Layer in diverse income streams—from Defined Benefit Pensions and employment to annuities and one-time events like inheritance or property sales.
- Strategic Withdrawal Control
- Take full control of your decumulation. Compare strategies to find your optimal balance between income safety and estate preservation. Model RRSP Meltdowns, Pension Splitting, and OAS/GIS interactions to build a plan that fits your priorities, not just a default algorithm.
- Risk & Reality Testing
- Averages can be misleading. Stress-test your plan using Monte Carlo simulations and historical Backtesting to see your true success rate. Includes a crucial Survivor Safety Check to ensure the remaining spouse is financially protected if either partner passes away early.
- Flexible Spending Stages
- Retirement isn't a flat line. Model your 'Go-Go' active years, one-time expenses (like a car purchase or wedding), and use Variable Spending Ranges to automatically adjust withdrawals during market downturns, mitigating sequence of return risk.
- Professional Standards
- Built on FP Canada Guidelines for projected returns and volatility. Define distinct asset allocations per account (RRSP, TFSA, Non-Registered, Corp) for precise modeling. Compare up to 5 different scenarios side-by-side to see how strategic changes impact your estate value decades from now.
- Private & Portable
- Your financial data belongs to you. Save plans locally to your device or your own private cloud (Dropbox/Drive). Export everything to Excel or PDF to share with your family, retirement buddies, or even your advisor.
Feedback from actual MayRetire users
"Easily the best tool I've tried. As a software developer, I appreciate the single-page design—it's the right choice. Data entry for assets and income is simple, efficient, and surprisingly complete."
"Simple to use but feature-complete. I've maintained a complex Excel sheet for years, and MayRetire completely blows it out of the water."
"Finally, a tool that assumes you're smart enough to understand your own portfolio. It lets you focus on tweaking scenarios to see the impact immediately. Awesome."
"I've been using the platform for months and it's fantastic. I recently discovered the 'backtest' feature... wow! It adds a whole new layer of confidence."
"Loving the platform so far. It's clear a lot of hard work and thought has gone into building this for Canadians."
"Quickest and most straightforward tool I've used. Gives a great high-level look to see if you're on the right track before moving to a plan with a financial advisor."
Latest Updates
We are constantly improving MayRetire based on feedback from the community.
Media
MayRetire Featured on cutthecrapinvesting
Dale Roberts uses MayRetire to model a comprehensive retirement strategy, demonstrating how to achieve a $110,000 annual retirement income. Read the full article here.
Improvement
Declutter your Detailed Projections view
The Detailed Projections Table presents a wealth of data, but we know it can be cumbersome. Based on feedback, we added an option to show/hide specific column groups, allowing you to focus strictly on relevant data.
Frequently Asked Questions
General & Security
- Is MayRetire designed specifically for Canadians?
- Yes. MayRetire is built specifically for the Canadian tax system. It accurately handles RRSPs, TFSAs, CPP, OAS, and calculates provincial income taxes based on your specific province of residence.
- Is my financial data private? Where is it saved?
- Your privacy is our priority. MayRetire operates as a "local-first" tool. You can save your plan files locally to your computer or your own private cloud (like Dropbox or Google Drive). We do not store your financial history on our servers. All computations are done locally in your browser.
- Do I need to link my bank accounts or provide financial statements?
- No. You do not need to connect your bank accounts or provide any statements. You simply enter your current balances and estimates. This ensures your security and simplifies the setup process.
- Is this a substitute for a financial advisor?
- MayRetire is designed for both DIY investors and those working with professionals. It serves as a comprehensive planning tool if you manage your own retirement plan, or as an independent "second opinion" to verify strategies if you work with an advisor.
- Can I export my plan?
- Yes. You can export your full plan and data to Excel or PDF. This allows you to save a hard copy for your records or share it directly with your financial planner for review.
Stress Testing & Analysis
- Can I compare different plans side-by-side?
- Yes. You don't have to guess. Compare up to 5 different scenarios side-by-side to see how changes—like delaying CPP, retiring a year later or tweaking your RRSP withdrawal strategy —impact your final estate value or annual income.
- Can I simulate a market crash (Monte Carlo)?
- Yes. Averages can be misleading. You can use Monte Carlo simulations and "Sequence of Returns" testing to see how your plan survives if the market drops right after you retire.
- Can I test my plan against history (Backtesting)?
- Yes. MayRetire allows you to stress-test your withdrawal strategy against historical market data (Backtesting) to see if your plan would have survived past real-world economic cycles.
- Does it include a "Survivor Safety Check"?
- Yes. Plans often fail when one spouse passes away early. You can stress-test the "Survivor Scenario" to ensure the remaining spouse is protected, accounting for the loss of one’s OAS and reduced total CPP and the shift to a single tax filer.
- Can I plan as a couple?
- Yes. MayRetire is designed for both individuals and couples. It tracks separate accounts for each partner and automatically applies income-splitting logic—such as Pension Income Splitting and CPP sharing —to minimize your combined household tax. You can also set different life expectancies for each spouse to ensure the survivor’s retirement remains secure throughout their entire lifetime.
- How do I decide what investment returns to use?
- You can input your own assumptions, but MayRetire also includes FP Canada Projection Guidelines. This provides professional, data-driven benchmarks for returns and volatility so you aren't guessing.
- Does it account for inflation? Can I override it?
- Yes. The tool calculates everything in "real dollars" (today's purchasing power). However, you have full control to override the inflation assumptions to test how high-inflation periods affect your specific plan.
Income, Spending & Assets
- Can I model different retirement stages (Go-Go, Slow-Go)?
- Yes. You aren't stuck with a flat spending number. You can use "Additional Withdrawals" to model higher discretionary spending in your active early years ("Go-Go" phase), or to plan for increased care expenses in the later stages of life.
- How do I handle one-time expenses like a car or wedding?
- Simple. You can add specific "one-off" spending events. Just set the amount and the specific year (e.g., "New Car in 2030") using the Additional Withdrawals feature, and the tool calculates the tax impact of that extra lump-sum withdrawal.
- Can I include extra income like part-time work, annuity or inheritance?
- Yes. You can layer in diverse income streams beyond pensions. Add "Additional Income" items for consulting work, a private annuity, or a future inheritance, specifying exactly when they start and end.
- Can I model complex assets like Rentals or a Corporation?
- Yes. You can input diverse income streams. For business owners, the tool supports Eligible, Non-Eligible, and Capital Dividends to optimize your corporate withdrawals. For real estate investors, you can model ongoing rental income (or shortfalls) and automatically calculate the tax impact of selling the property later in retirement.
- How are distributions from Unregistered Accounts taxed?
- MayRetire treats proceeds based on the asset class. It distinguishes between Interest (from Cash and Fixed Income), Eligible Dividends (Canadian equities), and Foreign Income (US, International, and Emerging equities) to ensure your projected tax bill reflects reality.
- Can I include debts like a mortgage?
- Yes. If the mortgage is for a rental property, it is handled within the Rental section so the interest correctly reduces your tax bill. For personal debts, you can configure payments as "Additional Withdrawals" to ensure your plan covers these obligations.
- Can I set different asset allocations per account?
- Yes. You have granular control. You can define distinct growth rates and risk profiles for each account type. For example, you can model a conservative allocation for your RRIF while maintaining a more aggressive strategy for your TFSA.
Strategy & Optimization
- Does it support variable spending strategies?
- Yes. Rigid plans often fail. You can set a Target Income and enable Variable Withdrawals by defining a Minimum income "floor." If the market performs poorly, the tool simulates adjusting your spending down to that minimum to preserve your portfolio, just like you would in real life.
- Does MayRetire allow for TFSA funding during retirement?
- Yes. You can enable "TFSA Funding" to automatically increase your withdrawal target by your annual contribution limit whenever possible. Additionally, if a strategy like an RRSP Meltdown generates excess cash, MayRetire intelligently models filling your available TFSA room first before depositing any remaining surplus into your unregistered account.
- Does MayRetire support an "RRSP Meltdown" strategy?
- Yes. MayRetire supports an RRSP Meltdown, allowing for strategic withdrawals from your RRSP/RRIF that go beyond your basic income needs. This strategy helps smooth out your lifetime tax rate, reduces the final tax bill for your estate, and helps avoid the OAS clawback. You maintain full control by limiting these withdrawals based on a specific target tax rate (average or marginal) or other custom parameters.
- Does the tool optimize for OAS Clawback?
- Yes. You can enable settings like "adjust withdrawals to prevent OAS clawback". The tool will attempt to keep your net income below the recovery tax threshold to preserve your Old Age Security benefits.
- Can I optimize my CPP and OAS start dates?
- Yes. You can model different start ages (e.g., 60 vs 65 vs 70) to see how deferring benefits affects your long-term income and immediate cash flow.
The Privacy Promise
Many financial tools monetize your data by selling leads to wealth advisors. We don't. MayRetire is built on a Local-First Architecture.
Browser-Based Storage
Your financial inputs are stored in `localStorage` on your own device. We do not have a database of your net worth.
No Ad Targeting
No Facebook Pixel. We don't share your portfolio size with ad networks.
Export Anytime
Since you own the data, you can export your plan to JSON or CSV at any time for your own backups.
About MayRetire
MayRetire started as a personal project. I was frustrated with the options for Canadian retirement planning: clunky government calculators, overly simple estimates, or complex tools that required hours of work before seeing even initial results.
I spent hours watching videos from leading Canadian planners and simply couldn't comprehend why even basic planning services start at $3,000–$4,000. When I attempted retirement planning at one of the big Canadian banks, it was a disappointment. When I asked which account I should withdraw from first to be tax-efficient, the answer was: "To answer that, you need to talk to your accountant."
I decided to build a better way. What began as a tool for our own family has evolved into a platform trusted by thousands of Canadians to make confident, data-backed decisions about their future.
Now, MayRetire is improving rapidly, driven almost entirely by the feedback and suggestions of our users. And this is just the beginning.
Ready to model your future?
Join thousands of fellow Canadians taking control of their retirement data.