CPP Payments: How Much Will You Receive From Canada Pension Plan
Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits can make up a key portion of your income in retirement. Individuals receiving the maximum CPP payments at age 65 can expect to collect $16,375.20 per year ($1,364.60 per month) in benefits.
The amount of your CPP payments depends on two factors: how much you contributed, and how long you made contributions between ages 18 and 65. Most don’t receive the maximum benefit. In fact, the average amount for new CPP beneficiaries is just $9,983.04 per year (as of January 2024).
CPP Payments 2024
The table below shows the monthly maximum CPP payment amounts for 2024, along with the average amount for new beneficiaries:
| Type of pension or benefit | Average amount for new CPP beneficiaries (Jan 2024) | Maximum payment amount (2024) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retirement pension (at age 65) | $831.92 | $1,364.60 | ||
| Disability benefit | $1,176.98 | $1,606.78 | ||
| Survivor's pension - younger than 65 | $524.68 | $739.31 | ||
| Survivor's pension - 65 and older | $326.87 | $818.76 | ||
| Death benefit (one-time payment) | $2,500 | $2,500 | ||
| Combined benefits | ||||
| Combined survivor's and retirement pension (at age 65) | $999.54 | $1,375.41 | ||
| Combined survivor's pension and disability benefit | $1,286.98 | $1,613.54 |
Now, you may not have a hot clue how much CPP you will receive in retirement, and that’s okay.
The good news is that the government does this calculation for you on an ongoing basis. This means that you can find out how much money the government would give you today, if you were already eligible to receive CPP. This information is available on your Canada Pension Plan Statement of Contribution. You can get your Statement of Contribution by logging into your My Service Canada Account, which – if you bank online with any of the major banks – is immediate.
Related: CRA My Account – How to check your tax information online
If you’d prefer to send your personal information by mail you can request a paper copy of your Statement of Contribution sent to you by calling 1.877.454.4051, or by printing out an Application for a Statement of Contributions from the Service Canada Website.
Note that the information available to you on your CPP Statement of Contribution may not reflect your actual CPP payments. That’s because it doesn’t factor in several variables that might affect the amount you’re entitled to receive (such as the child-rearing drop-out provision). The statement also assumes that you’re 65 today, which means that later years of higher or lower income that will affect the average lifetime earnings upon which your pension is based aren’t taken into consideration.
CPP is Indexed to Inflation
Canada Pension Plan (CPP) rate increases are calculated once a year using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) All-Items Index. The increases come into effect each January, and are legislated so that benefits keep up with the cost of living. The rate increase is the percentage change from one 12-month period to the previous 12-month period.
CPP payments were increased by 4.8% in January 2024, based on the average CPI from November 2022 to October 2023, divided by the average CPI from November 2021 to October 2022.
Note that if cost of living decreased over the 12-month period, the CPP payment amounts would not decrease, they’d stay at the same level as the previous year.
CPP Payment Dates
CPP payment dates are scheduled on a recurring basis a few days before the end of the month. This includes the CPP retirement pension and disability, children’s and survivor benefits. If you have signed up for direct deposit, payments will be automatically deposited in your bank account on these dates:
All CPP payment dates 2024
- January 29, 2024
- February 27, 2024
- March 26, 2024
- April 26, 2024
- May 29, 2024
- June 26, 2024
- July 29, 2024
- August 28, 2024
- September 25, 2024
- October 29, 2024
- November 27, 2024
- December 20, 2024
Why Don’t I Receive The CPP Maximum?
Only 6% of CPP recipients receive the maximum payment amount, according to Employment and Social Development Canada. The average recipient receives about 56% of the CPP maximum. With that in mind, it’s best to lower your CPP expectations when calculating your potential retirement income.
Why don’t more people receive the maximum? Well, because it requires 39 years of CPP contributions at the maximum level to get the biggest possible benefit in retirement. That means you need a salary that meets or exceeds the yearly maximum annual pensionable earnings threshold, which in 2024 is $68,500.
Note that for the first time in 2024 there is a new Year’s Additional Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YAMPE) as part of the enhanced CPP that is being phased in over two years. This means Canadians will pay an additional 4% on the earnings between $68,500 to $73,200.
- Year YMPE
- 2024 $68,500
- 2023 $66,600
- 2022 $64,900
- 2021 $61,600
- 2020 $58,700
- 2019 $57,400
- 2018 $55,900
- 2017 $55,300
- 2016 $54,900
- 2015 $53,600
- 2014 $52,500
- 2013 $51,100
Plenty of variables affect your ability to earn the maximum CPP benefits. Maybe you joined the work force late, dropped out for a period of time, or retired early.
Related: When Should Early Retirees Take CPP?
Low income earners may not hit the YMPE level often enough to get the highest possible CPP retirement benefit. Business owners who choose to pay themselves dividends don’t need to contribute to CPP, but that means they won’t be eligible to receive benefits either.
When To Take CPP?
Perhaps the most common question about CPP is when to take it. The standard age to take CPP is at age 65. But, Service Canada may proactively send out a notice a few months before your 60th birthday advising you that you’re eligible to apply for CPP and giving you an estimate of your expected CPP payments.
You can take a reduced CPP payment starting as early as age 60. If you do elect to take CPP early, you’ll receive 0.6% less for every month you receive it before age 65. That means, for those taking CPP at age 60, a reduction in their CPP payments by 36%. Reductions aside, there could be good reasons to take CPP early – namely if you need the income sooner than 65, or if you expect to have a reduced life expectancy.
Conversely, you can enhance your CPP payments by deferring your pension up until age 70. The advantage of waiting is you’ll receive a 0.7% increase for every month you defer CPP past age 65. Taking CPP at age 70 results in a 42% enhancement to your pension. The biggest reason to defer CPP is to protect against longevity risk – the risk of outliving your money. The trade-off is using your own personal savings to tide you over until the enhanced CPP payments kick-in later in life.
Note there is no benefit to defer CPP beyond age 70, so get your CPP application in on time to avoid delays.
Final Summary
CPP is a complicated system but one that is crucial to retirement planning for many Canadians. It’s important to understand how much CPP you will receive in retirement, and to know how difficult it is to receive the maximum CPP payments. Most CPP beneficiaries receive much less than the maximum, with the average between 55% and 60% – so that’s good to know going into your retirement income planning.
You can find out an estimate of your CPP benefits by looking at your Statement of Contribution online at your My Service Canada Account, or request a paper copy by calling Service Canada.
CPP payments are indexed to inflation, with the latest increase going up by 4.8% in 2024. CPP payment dates are scheduled toward the end of every month and automatically deposited into your bank.
Finally, a big consideration is when to take CPP and how the payments fit into your retirement plan. Do you expect to live a long life? Will you work until age 65? Do you have sufficient personal savings to last until your CPP payments kick-in? Will you take CPP at age 65, or elect to take your pension earlier or later?
Readers: How does CPP fit into your retirement income plan?
This is the most mind spinning article, why these important issues needs to be so complex for common person to understand.
Here’s more mind spin. I live i Australia and receive a small entitlement from both AGE and CPP.I noticed that instead of any increase there has been a reduction from about August 2022 by an average of $14. Something else that is beyond comprehension is that there is no consistency from one month to the next…all over the shop. and finally, why do we get paid once a month? That was before computers and electronic transfer systems. But the civil service has had fortnightly payments from the 60’s as do the politicians. I know teachers were paid monthly in MB and that saved the school board heaps with cash attracting compounding interest on their reserves. But for pensioners that has to change. How does one meet payment obligations, agreements to pay-on-time to get discounts if the money does not arrive within a specified period. And…..there are exactly 26 fortnights in a year so governments pocket the 26th payment or the 13th depending on point of view because the calendar doesn’t lie! We are dudded and we are duds if we put up with this excrement.
I totally agree! I’m just looking for information on getting a part time job. And finding out how much I can make extra while receiving CPP AND OAS?
It’s kind of scary with what seniors get to live on these days. Knowing that maybe if you work part time and they make you pay it back !
That’s exactly what im saying too. They make everything so complicated
I read somewhere recently that if you don’t apply by 70 you can’t get ANY benefits at all. Is that correct?
No that is not true. But you may forego benefits if you wait too long. For example, if you apply at 75 you won’t get 5 years of back payments. But nothing would prevent you from applying at 75.
Auto enrolment at age 70
https://www.advisor.ca/news/economic/feds-to-introduce-automatic-cpp-enrolment-raise-gis-ceiling/
Thanks! Maybe it was articles posted when the changes were announced earlier this year that made comments about past problems they were trying to address that stuck in my head. It’s a constant battle trying to keep on top of everything!
The thing that bothers me most is that at any moment any government can decide to change all the rules (ie change retirement age to 67) and people have to scramble to adjust their retirement calculations/expectations. I’m 59 and have pretty much decided to take CPP at 70 but who knows what the rules will be in 10 years?
Hi Frito, typically these changes would be phased-in so it would not go into effect for 10 years or so. That’s what the Harper government did in the 2012 budget when it proposed that OAS benefits start at 67 instead of 65. This proposal wouldn’t go into effect until 2023 – although moot now because the federal liberals cancelled it.
I can’t imagine a government alienating seniors by making immediate and sweeping changes to CPP or OAS.
Hi Robb when Harper proposed the change to OAS I emailed his office saying that I am on LTD to goes till 65 so for 2 years my income would drop by close to $600/mo.
They replied saying how important it was to do this and to talk to my insurance company so I did and was told by them when my claim started it paid to 65 so no help there.
This shows how important it is to build your own savings be it the RRSP, RDSP(for the disabled), TFSA and Investments as you never know what will happen in the future.
My accountant advise taking it when you turn 60 as who knows if there will be anything left in the future.
Old style thinking IMO.
An accountant isn’t a financial planner. Not necessarily good advice.
No, not “any” government can make any changes (let alone “all the rules”) at “any” time. Changes to the CPP require agreement between the federal government and the governments of at least two thirds of the provinces representing two thirds of the Canadian population (except Quebec, which is not part of the CPP). It is therefore very difficult to make changes and often takes years of negotiations. As any changes are fraught with political fallout if they are unpopular, so far in the history of the program the only changes that have been made have been to improve it for pensioners or to ensure that it is sustainable, which is also in pensioners’ best interest. So rest easy on that. OAS is controlled by the federal government alone. The change to age 67 was meant to preserve the program. When Trudeau rolled the age back to 65 he put the OAS in jeopardy and doubled-down with the 10% bonus to seniors 75 and up. It is possible OAS will undergo unwelcome changes in the next 10 years, but more likely is that taxes will simply be increased to cover the shortfall.
Too True!
Thanks for the reminder.
Wondering if anyone has insight into the CPP survivor benefits? My husband & I are both 61, and plan to wait at least 2-3 more years before applying for CPP however, I have heard that if a person has not applied and God forbid, one spouse dies, it greatly affects the benefits for the surviving spouse?
Thoughts??
Hi Monica, that is not true. According to Service Canada:
The amount you receive as a surviving spouse or common-law partner will depend on:
-Whether you (the survivor) are younger or older than age 65
-How much, and for how long, the deceased contributor has paid into the CPP
If the survivor is under age 65 then he/she will receive a flat rate portion plus 37.5% of the contributor’s retirement pension.
Another item of note is that you should apply as soon as possible after the contributor’s death. If you delay, you may lose benefits. The Canada Pension Plan can only make back payments for up to 12 months.
My spouse died prematurely at age 55. I started receiving Survivor Benefit from her passing. When I became eligible for CPP at age 63, – 9 years later – I phoned CPP for advice on early drawing of the benefit for myself. I was told at that time by CPP that I might as well start taking the benefit at 63 because despite the discount I would incur, the Survivor Benefit would make up for the reduction in my own CPP benefit and the combined payments would approximate the maximum anyway. Except they didn’t tell me that when I turned 65 – 2years later – I would no longer receive the Survivor Benefit. So now I am getting significantly less than the maximum CPP despite having paid into the plan at maximum annual contribution for 39 years. If not for this bad advice I would have delayed taking CPP until I turned 65 and would now be receiving the maximum amount instead of the significantly lower amount. When I wrote a formal letter to CPP informing them of the bad advice I received from them and the financial damage it caused to me they simply said….”too bad”.
I believe you are confusing the CPP Survivor Benefit (which ends on your death) and the OAS Allowance for the Survivor (which ends when you turn 65, and are eligible for your own OAS). The OAS Allowance for the Survivor has an income threshold, above which you are ineligible. I believe it is aimed at aiding the younger spouse of an OAS recipient when the impact of the loss of OAS would really hurt (due to an already low income). As an “allowance” it ends when you no longer are deemed to need it – according to the program rules. The CPP Survivor Benefit on the other hand is a benefit (that your spouse earned for you through their CPP contributions) so it continues till your death. Again, talk to an expert to be sure you know what you are currently receiving, and when it will actually end. Good luck. I am in the same boat as a current recipient in 50s of a Survivor Benefit.
I’d like to add to my comment above that according to Doug Runchey CPP Survivor Benefits are recalculated by Service Canada at the survivor’s age 65 (as Conor implies) to arrive at a “combined” benefit – but they don’t necessarily end altogether. There are different “lesser of”-type formulae (yes, plural) that come into play, plus an adjustment factor if the survivor took their own CPP before age 65. According to Doug, survivors lose all or part of their survivor benefit upon being combined with their own CPP, so one MAY see the survivor benefit “end” at 65, but that is not the case for all survivors. Until I get an accurate estimate of my combined CPP benefits for each year in my 60s and age 70, I will not apply for my own CPP. A VERY rough rule of thumb appears to be that survivors should postpone taking their own CPP and live off the survivor benefit plus other income, if they can afford to. It’s regrettable, Conor, you seem to have fallen into the trap Doug Runchey warns of. Thank you for reinforcing the importance of getting expert advice!
I tried to get through to Service Canada, gave up after 25 minutes on hold. Their website is also not incredibly user-friendly
Hi Mike, yes – the complicated CPP system is further complicated by the lack of help on the phone and online.
Am I understanding this correctly? If one spouse passes away the other spouse gets the survivor’s pension plus their own CPP, but the maximum stays the same as the maximum for a single person. Example – Spouse 1 gets $950 CPP and spouse 2 gets $800 CPP, but if one of the spouses passes away, the other spouse can only get $1154.58 (2019 dollars), when I would think they should be entitled to the survivor’s pension (roughly $500+) and there own CPP ($800) for a total of $1,300.00+. Please tell me they would still get the $1,300+.
Hi Diane, you are understanding it correctly – your benefit, even with a survivor’s pension, cannot exceed the CPP maximum for one individual. A baffling rule, but a rule nonetheless.
Let’s say there’s a 3-4 year age difference between spouses and the older spouse dies at 65. In a situation like this, it could make sense for the surviving spouse to hold off on collecting his/her own CPP until 70 (thus getting more) and collecting the full survivor benefit up until then.
Thank you for the clarification. Wow! So if the first spouse waited until 70 to take their CPP (in an effort to leave more income for the other spouse), will the maximum be adjusted to reflect the 42% increase associated with waiting until 70 to start collecting CPP?
Hi Diane, unfortunately – no.
The 60% calculation for survivor benefits is done without regard to the adjustment for early or late start of CPP.
So if someone is 65 with a CPP of $1,000 a month, the survivor benefit is $600/month. Now if the person waited until 70 for CPP, their benefit rises to $1,420 a month. But the survivor benefit is still $600/month.
I asked Feed Vettese about this and he said:
“This rule makes it a little less appealing to defer CPP since it doesn’t increase the survivor benefit, but it certainly isn’t a showstopper.”
and,
“There are a few more wrinkles but basically the survivor benefit is not an important reason to either defer CPP to 70 or to take it as early as possible. Besides the chances of dying between 60 and 70 are surprisingly small.”
See my comment above. Survivor benefit is cancelled when the recipient turns 65.
In reply to Conor’s reply here: Please scroll up to my caution about confusing the CPP Survivor Benefit (that pays out till the survivor’s death) and the OAS Allowance for the Survivor (that does end when the survivor turns 65). They are two very different things by my understanding.
Any comments on how RRSP payments may affect your CPP pension benefit??
Yes, there is a long wait time, however, put yr phone on speaker, grab a coffee & wait. Wait time won’t get any shorter on any weekday..I called two wks ago, once you get an answer, calmly tell them you’re concern or issue..anytime I’ve ever called them they were very helpful, but remember, you wnt them to help you..so calm & respectful is the way to go.
If someone decides to retire early, what effect will that have on their CPP? Will it be still advantageous to wait till 70 to collect if you are not creating a taxable income during the years 60-70? It seems CPP penalizes the early retired as they lose high earning years which reduces their pension amount. Do you know if the years 65 to 70 count towards your CPP earnings?
I took my CPP as soon as I hit 60, and still earn a good income, and each year my CPP payment was recalculated and increased. I am in Quebec, where its QPP, but I was not expecting it, but impressed that this occurs. I am 64 now, and the lockdowns allowed me to earn a lot of money that I was not expecting. The payment to the fund was a lot, each year, and mandatory, so I am grateful that I get some benefit. I decided to NOT collect the Canada Pension until I’m 70. Good luck.
As I understand, for CPP years between 65 & 70 are NOT included in the CPP payment calculation and do not impact it. You do not have to include the 65-70 years in the 17% drop-out allowance either. The official contribution period is 18-65. So delaying to 70 get you the entire 8.4%/year bonus.
However, for QPP in Quebec, the QPP payment calculation DOES include years between 65 & 70, i.e. the official contribution period is 18-70. If these are low or zero contribution years, as they will be for most people, and the 15% drop-out allowance is already used up with earlier low contribution years, there will be an impact on the QPP payment. It can be offset somewhat by the 8.4% per year past 65 bonus, though.
I had asked Dogger this (he is a past cpp employee/expert who hosts a thread on redflag deals and canadian money forum) and he has said it is still beneficial to defer as you are getting an extra percentage per year by deferring which offsets the amount taken off for drop out years. I imagine it would be highly individual though. I would post on his thread http://forums.redflagdeals.com/im-canada-pension-plan-cpp-expert-any-questions-1295017/
It’s good that this thread touches on the maximum survivor’s CPP pension. The ‘cap’ is not even known to most couples. Calculating the surviving spouse’s income becomes even more critical when you consider the departed spouse’s OAS stops and their private/employer pension is likely reduced by 40-50% for the survivor. We need a fuller discussion on the impact of being a surviving spouse!
Is the September 26 CPP payment for the month of September or October?
September. CPP & OAS alsways pay at the end of the month.
My husband retired at 55 and has not made any further payments to the CPP Plan – we are living and working abroad now (as non-residents). He was planning to wait to 65 to take the CPP because we don’t need the income right now. I’m interested in your comment about calculating CPP based on the best 39 vs. 35 years – what about the penalty for taking it 5 years early? How can we calculate the difference?
Hi Sandy, I am in the similar situation of your husband. retired at age 55 and do not need the money. Is it better to wait until age 65 or even later. or should we take at age 60. Have you got any answer from anyone. Thank you
I didn’t receive a reply.
Hi Annie, you’ll always get more CPP by deferring. That’s because the credit you get for waiting is larger than the penalty for having more zero years of contributions (does that make sense?).
I highly recommend visiting http://www.cppcalculator.ca and running your CPP estimate at different ages. If you have a complex scenario, I highly recommend contacting the site owner Doug Runchey to run your own personal calculations. He charges a nominal fee but guarantees his estimates are accurate. I’ve had clients use his service and have seen the reports he generates. Well worth it.
Hi, I am 56 and have been living and working in the US since I was 30, therefor not contributing to CCP. (Still CDN, just a US resident, paying all taxes here) I was once told that I will not qualify to receive any CCP benefits as you need so many working years after turning 18, and I only have 12 at the max. If this is true, do I qualify to get my contributions returned at least?
My friend paid 3 years into the Canada Pension plan and she’s just turning 65 and living overseas. She gets 3 years of CPP which is a small monthly amount but still worth collecting.
Hi just want to know when the wife is retire at 66 and don’t get the full cpp payment because her husband still working and what is going to happen if husband retire at the age of 60 is wife gets full pension and husband will get what kind of cpp payment. husband has been contributes the maximum cpp deductions .
Coming to this late but I hope you’ll still be able to answer. I understand that my pension will rise 0.7% for every month I delay taking CPP after 65. But how is inflation factored into calculations? If I delay till age 70, are the .7% monthly increases based on the original CPP at 65, or on the inflation-corrected amount? If I’m 60 now, how can I guesstimate what my CPP payments will be 10 years in the future? (At the moment, I’m taking the amount the government says will be my payment at 70 and applying 10 years worth of approximate inflation increases.)
Hi Trevor, CPP rate increases are calculated once a year using the Consumer Price Index (CPI). They come into effect each January. These increases are legislated under the Canada Pension Plan so that benefits keep up with the cost of living.
Deferring CPP will give you a 0.7% increase each month on the inflation-adjusted amount.
Try this free CPP Calculator for a solid estimate of your benefits starting at different ages: https://cppcalculator.com/
It’s even better than that (but more confusing, because of course it is) — CPP payments increase with CPI once you start taking it. But while you are deferring it, the calculation of how much you get increases with changes in the YMPE (wage inflation), which historically has increased slightly faster than CPI inflation.
If you want a speadsheet-based CPP calculator so it’s easier to do what-if scenarios, I have one available here.
I believe you failed to mention that the Survivors pension is not $300. per month if the survivor has their own max CPP benefit. So don’t count on that when your partner passes.
It can be as little as zero.
I am waiting to get my CPP :o) I have hit all the marks with 39 years at the max so I would assume I get the max. I am also going to defer taking it at 65, and wait till 66. My financial advisor doesn’t agree, but I like the 8.4 % pay rise. I may go another year, but again my finance guy is wary, saying I wont catch up till I am 83. I may not live that long, but I would like to get that pay bump.
I was always thinking I would make it to the maximum but I have to work to 64 for that to happen. Not sure that is in the plan as I was thinking I would like to be scaling back from work by 60 but we will see. Lots of people in my organization work up to 65 or later just because they like the work but that is another 20 years of work ahead of me if I make to 64.
I guess when I am doing my retirement forecasting I shouldn’t plan on the full allotment of CPP. Deferring to 70 will make up some of that shortfall if I due retire early.
I was talking to my Mom over the holidays and women in my family have a tendency to live well into their 90s so I guess hedging on waiting for CPP is probably best as income protection
While the Government provides an estimate of an individual CPP, it does not provide any estimate for or even description of methodology for determining survivor payments. The calculations for this are even more complex when it involves spouses, both of whom receive CPP . The survivor payment is significantly less than one might expect. It is not as simple as just adding the two payments together with a cap at the maximum payment level. But the Government offers no assistance in providing estimates for planning purposes well in advance of the death of one spouse.
Ok I think I finally understand it….thank you.
Essentially, this matter is beyond all understanding unless one is a professional financial auditor/statistician/ and actuary, and even then the only one sure thing is that our politicians will receieve a huge pension for life after five years of service.
If I collect CPP at 60 yrs and I am still working I’ve been told you when you set up your Service Canada CPP that you should have them deduct the taxes off of each month so you don’t pay when filing your income tax. If that’s the case what % should you ask them to take off? Thanks!
Hi is there trends posted of all the increase in cpp payments for the last 10 years. My financial advisor estimated 2% increase in cpp and oas payments for the next 25 years Is this realistic?
I am 65 years of age and have reached my maximum 41 years of maximum CPP contributions and have elected not to collect my CPP until age 70. Also I will still be continuing to work until age 70. Therefore I must continue to be deducted CPP from my employer, therefore making contributions that will have no future/additional benefit because I cannot complete form 30 because I am still working and have not started collecting CPP.
Is this correct and is there any way I can stop making contributions or am I wrong and by making CPP between age 65 to age 70 there will be an additional benefit. It’s Frustrating that I will be making $3050.00 per year in contributions times five years equals $15,250.00 with no additional CPP benefits.
Can you clarify for me. Thanks so much
Once you reach 65 years or older You can elect to stop paying CPP by submitting form CPT30 to your employer as well as to CRA.
Only if you are collecting CPP benefits, I believe Al stated he does not plan to collect CPP until he is 70.
Does CPP pension work like a teacher’s pension i.e. based upon the last 5 years of teaching and so they can do a lot of overtime to be able to achieve a higher pension. Or, is it based upon the best 39 years or simply the average. The reason I am asking is that I am 69 self employed paying into CPP. Is there a big benefit for my CPP pension amount when I start collecting it in 2022 to pay myself at $61K salary for 2021 even though I have not done so for the past several years? Is it worth the extra $2500 in CPP costs for this final year as I was only paying myself about $30,000 in salary for the past few years? thanks
I’ve done the calculations and at 60 with my best 35 years of contributions, I’m at 98.62% of the maximum. If I retire at the same time and don’t apply for cpp until I’m 65 I’ll be at 94.76 of the maximum because of a couple of bad years. My question is if I start collecting it at about 62 or 63 does it automatically go to 39 years of maximum contributions or would it be something in between? For example if I started collecting at 62 would that mean that I’d need 37 years on or near the maximum? I can’t find this information.
I have 39 years of maximum CPP contributions and verified that with my CPP contribution statement. I reached the 39 years of maximum contributions in the year I turned 62 which was also the year I retired, though I was still 61 when I retired (I’m December born). I decided to defer taking my CPP to age 70, now with 18 months to go I am just about there. I assumed that as I had reached the 39 years of maximum CPP contributions mark I am entitled to the maximum enhanced CPP when I reach age 70 even though I haven’t worked or contributed since I retired . That is, with the 39 years at the maximum I have earned as much CPP benefit as I can and any further contributions would not get me a better CPP benefit AND that there was no downside to no longer contributing even though I had not yet reached 65. After reading this article I signed into My Service Canada Account and it says at age 70 will receive $1766.13 as my monthly CPP pension amount which is not quite the maximum ($1253.59 * 1.42 = $1780.10). It’s not a huge difference, only $167 a year, and I don’t expect you to be able to know why Service Canada calculates it the way they do but any thoughts on the discrepancy? I am a little mystified and wonder did I miss something?
The maximum CPP benefit for 2022 which you referred to is for the enhanced CPP. Contributions were raised beginning in 2019 to pay for the enhancement. If you have not made CPP contributions in any of 2019, 2020, or 2021 then you are not entitled to the enhanced CPP payment (you put less in, you get less out). Your pension amount will therefore be lower than what is indicated as this year’s maximum.
Thanks, I had forgotten about the new enhanced CPP contributions as that started after I left work. Makes sense to me now!
Hello,
I have a certain question for you. I’m 67, is still working and postponed taking my CPP. I usually check my CPP at Service Canada website. I noticed that my CPP increases 0.7% every month which is understandable.
But my CPP was not increased a single time due to inflation. The 2022 inflation rate of increase was 2.7% but I didn’t see it (1% in 2021). My amount from December 2021 to January 2022 was increased only 0.7% without taking the inflation rate into consideration.
Would you be so kind to explain me the reason. Or it will be recalculated at the time of taking CPP? Same is with OAS.
Thank you,
Natalya
Under “Why don’t I get the CPP maximum?” it was stated:
“Why don’t more people receive the maximum? Well, because it requires 39 years of CPP contributions at the maximum level to get the biggest possible benefit in retirement.”
That is part of the explanation, but it is far from the only factor. What is missing from your answer is that the figure shown as the “maximum amount” for 2022 ($1,253.59) will only be received IF YOU TAKE CPP AT AGE 65. Anyone, who, for instance, is entitled to the maximum at age 65 but takes their CPP at age 60 will take a self-imposed cut of 36% of the benefit. If they were entitled to the maximum at age 65, they will get $802.30 at age 60 (I know it is a little more complicated than that, but this is in fact what is happening). Another factor you left out is that the published maximum is only for those who have made contributions to the ENHANCED CPP from 2019 through 2021. For someone who has not, the age 65 pension will be $1,243.75, so they will actually get 64% of that, or $796 if they take CPP at age 60. Note that that is getting close to the average payout. This isn’t a huge effect, but it does confuse a lot of people who get a few dollars less than the published maximum. And “No”, the contribution of those taking CPP later than age 65 hasn’t been having much effect on the average because almost nobody does that. However, in the last two years there has been a spike in those taking CPP at 70, apparently at the expense of those taking it at age 60, so that may, in fact, lead to an increase in the average CPP payout compared to the “maximum” if it keeps trending.
Hi
Really appreciate the work you do. I have 2 questions:
1) I’m 65 , plan on working for 2 more years. If I start collecting my CPP now and continue to contribute, will my CPP payments increase by the .7% for each month until I stop working?
2) Is there a max that a surviving spouse can collect from both their own CPP and the Survivor Benefit CPP? ie. if I pass, will my spouse (65 yrs) collect both her CPP benefit, and 60% of my CPP benefit? Or, is the total CPP one can collect capped? If so, what is the cap?
Thank you
Paul
During the 2019 election campaign in Fredericton, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau announced that a re-elected government led by him would provide a 10 per cent boost to Old Age Security (OAS) at age 75 and a 25 per cent increase to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) for widows. The OAS promise went through. Also promised, widows or widowers would receive up to $2,080 in additional benefits every year with the increased survivor’s benefit under the CPP and Quebec Pension Plan (QPP).” My question is, are you aware if the Survivor’s benefit promise ever happened?
First of all, no one knows how long they will live. So I say take the CPP at 60. I did. At the time a few years ago, it made the most sense as you have to calculate how much you will receive between 60 and 65, somewhere in the 36K range total or so in my case, for the 5 years, and then calculate how much more you would receive a year if you wait until you are 65, about 2,400 more for me. This would take me 15 years to break even (36,000 divided by 2,400), from taking it at 65….meaning I am only ahead after 80 years old. The conventional lifespan in Canada is about 83 for a non-smoker male. So I get an extra 200 a month for 3 years. Makes no sense to me. Of course, they want you to take it later, they gamble on the fact you may die before they have to pay you out. I had the same discussion with a good friend of mine who took it at 65, then died recently at 73. They made money on him. On the other hand, my mom took hers at 70, then lived to 95, not typical. She was bragging about how much she was getting in her CPP but she was an invalid in care-home for the last few years of her life, unable to do anything. What’s better, get the money upfront when you are young enough to do something with it? I think so. Don’t forget, it’s your money, you paid for it.
This is the only place I’ve seen any mention of 2023’s CPP payment increase being 6.3% and I’ve been looking for the past month, since January 2023 is only 4 days away. Is this confirmed?
“CPP payments are indexed to inflation, with the latest increase going up by 6.3% in 2023. CPP payment dates are scheduled toward the end of every month and automatically deposited into your bank.”
Didn’t see CPP increase 6.3 % this Jan 2023
If max payment for 2022 was 1253.00,
Then 2023 would be $1331.00
But government says it’s $1306.00
Why the $25.00 discrepancy ?
Hi Erik, CPP recipients get increases based on the consumer price index (CPI) and received a 6.3% increase this January.
If you’re not yet collecting CPP then the estimated amount you will receive in the future is adjusted based on average wage growth (rather than price growth).
Usually wage growth is higher than inflation but 2022 was an unusual year in which price inflation was higher than wage inflation.
Thank you very much for your quick reply ,
I understand it now .
I am currently in receipt of a CPP survivor benefit which I assume will increase by the CPI increase .
So it should make it easier to get to the maximum CPP pension since my Survivor benefit is increasing at a faster rate than the increase in retirement benefit .
I am currently 58 and plan to work 1 more year .
I am currently 60 years old, still working, and putting together a financial retirement plan for my wife and myself. I was somewhat shocked when I came across the rules/calculations for the CPP Survivor Benefit. The calculations are quite complicated but in a nutshell (for after the age of 65): if spouse A and spouse B both are currently receiving max or near max CPP, and spouse B dies, spouse A will receive very little (or none) for a CPP Survivor Benefit. That means that the household income when spouse B dies will drop by the CPP that spouse B was receiving and the OAS for spouse B. In my situation, if I defer my CPP to 70 (which is my plan), when I die, the household income will drop by about $24,000 per year (CPP and OAS combined)! The income drop would be even higher if my spouse was at or near the max CPP for her pension. It seems unfair that my spouse will not benefit from all those working years that I (and my employer) contributed to my pension.
After my brother-in-law died, my sister was told that her husband had received to much CPP benefits for over 22 years, and she’s being asked to repay the government over $3900 How is that possible?
What happens to stay at home mom’s that did not enter the work force until the children were older. Is there compensation for the years not paying CPP?
Hi! got a silly question here. I’m going on 65 in 6 month time and i only worked maybe 5-6 years in total. I will be applying for my cpp and old age pension in the next few weeks. Some say I might just get something like 20 dollars a month on my cpp. Can that be true?
Could be true, I know my SIL worked very little through out her life and receives only 20 dollars a month for CPP. But she applied for it at 60, you may have more because you waited until 65 to claim yours. Go online to check your CRA account, it will have all of the info you need.
So since these are contributions, what happens to all the money that was invested in a person’s CPP contributions if they should pass before they can claim it?
The government will only contribute to your RDSP until you turn 49.
If you open an RDSP after that year you turn 49, the only contributions that can be made are your own. Therefore, if you become disabled after age 49, even if you receive the Disability Tac Credit approval from the government, bring in less than the max amount allowable income wise, etc., you will not be receiving any RDSP contributions from the government.
Hello. I’m wondering about your confidence level that the CPP benefit amount stated in one’s My CRA account is indeed the guaranteed benefit. I considered that perhaps this was a speculative projection/extrapolation by CRA assuming you work till 65 and contribute at a rate similar to your historical average (or some other formulae).
I sat on hold and asked a CRA agent once… but they didn’t know. I too emailed Rob Carrick with the Globe and Mail, but he too was unsure.
I ask because I am 51 and the benefit suggests I’m close to max (~$1,200/month). I’m a conservative doubting Thomas and figure that must not be right.
Any assistance you can provide clarifying this will be appreciated.
Hi Glenn, I wouldn’t be confident in the amount shown in your My Service Canada Account unless you are close to age 65. You’re right that it is taking your current contributions and projecting that out – assuming you work and contribute until 65.
A much better approach is to go there, download your Statement of Contributions, then visit https://www.cppcalculator.com/ where you can upload your statement of contributions and then manually enter your expected future contributions (including zero years if you plan on retiring early).
This will give you a more accurate estimate for your CPP amount at age 60, 65, and 70.
I’ve written about this in more detail here: https://boomerandecho.com/when-should-early-retirees-take-cpp/
Thank you, Sir.