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Steven Alexander CPA Inc.accounting. advisory. growth.
Free tool · Financial independence

Your work-optional life, mapped in dollars.

Build the savings to support a work-optional life for as long as you need it — modelled with BC taxes, real account types, and your actual spending.

Step 1 — Choose a target lifestyle

Click a tier to load typical BC lifestyle-spending and savings targets for a work-optional life. You can adjust everything below.

Modest

A simpler work-optional life — paid-off home, modest leisure, minimal travel. Basic needs covered with comfort.

Annual lifestyle spending$45,000
Travel budget / year~$3,000
Annual savings to die with zero$16,600
Allocation: $7K TFSA + $9.6K RRSP (default 35→65→95 path)

Comfortable

A relaxed work-optional life — regular dining out, hobbies, 1-2 trips a year, comfortable home, occasional indulgences.

Annual lifestyle spending$70,000
Travel budget / year~$8,000
Annual savings to die with zero$40,200
Allocation: $7K TFSA + $26.6K RRSP + $6.6K Non-reg (RRSP capped at 18% of gross)

Affluent

A premium work-optional life — frequent international travel, premium home & vehicles, dining, hobbies, family support.

Annual lifestyle spending$110,000
Travel budget / year~$20,000+
Annual savings to die with zero$75,700
Allocation: $7K TFSA + $33.8K RRSP + $34.9K Non-reg

Step 2 — Enter your situation

All figures in today's dollars unless noted. Results update live as you type.

Personal
Current age
Target work-optional age
Plan to age
Current Savings
RRSP balance
TFSA balance
 
Non-registered investments
Principal Residence
Home value (fair market value)
Mortgage balance owing
Leave both at zero if you rent. Your home counts toward net worth, but it is deliberately left out of the projection below — it has to be sold to be spent, so it does not fund retirement income.
Annual Contributions
RRSP / year max $33,810 or 18% of incomeⓘ2026 max: lesser of $33,810 or 18% of earned income
 
TFSA / year max $7,000ⓘ2026 limit: $7,000
Non-registered / year
Current Lifestyle
Current household expenditure / year (today's $)
Annual after-tax spending (housing, food, transport, etc., excluding retirement contributions). Used to compute the gross income required to follow this contribution strategy.
Assumptions
Pre-independence return (%)
Post-independence return (%)
Inflation (%)
Government Benefits
Expected CPP at age 65 / yr max ~$18,090ⓘ2026 max ~$18,090; average ~$10,800
Expected OAS at age 65 / yr ~$8,908ⓘ2026 ~$8,908; clawback starts at $93,454
Other pension income / yr (if any)
Lifestyle Target
Desired annual lifestyle spending (today's $)
For the PDF export (optional)
Prepared by (optional)
Client name
✓
On track Your projected savings should support your target lifestyle through your planning horizon.
Nest egg at independence
$0
in nominal dollars
Nest egg in today's $
$0
inflation-adjusted
Sustainable income / yr
$0
total gross, today's $
Money lasts to age
—
at target spend
Estimated final estate ⓘThe remaining investment balance at your plan-to age. A surplus means assets to leave to heirs or charity; near $0 reflects a Die-with-Zero outcome where savings funded the most life possible.
$0
at plan-to age
Net worth today ⓘInvestments plus the equity in your home. Home equity is counted here because it is genuinely yours, but it is left out of the projection above: it cannot pay for groceries without selling the house.
$0
investments only
Gross income required to fund this plan
$0
covers expenditure + contributions + tax (today's $)
ⓘ
About "Die with Zero"
The 2020 book by Bill Perkins argues that the goal of saving isn't to leave the largest estate — it's to fund the most life. Money has diminishing utility as you age (you can't enjoy expensive travel at 90 the way you can at 60), so dying with significant assets unspent often means experiences and time you traded away.
The target: spend savings down to roughly $0 by your planned end-of-plan age — optimizing for life, not legacy.
🌐 Learn more →
Find the contribution level (higher or lower than current) that depletes your savings exactly at plan-to age.
Optimization result

Investment balance over time (nominal $)

Hover the chart to see the year-by-year breakdown of each account.

Income breakdown — year 1 of work-optional phase (today's $)

Annual Monthly
CPP$0$0
OAS (gross)$0$0
OAS clawback ⓘThe OAS Recovery Tax (clawback) reduces OAS for higher incomes. In 2026 the threshold begins at $93,454 of net income. For every $1 above the threshold, $0.15 of OAS is recovered. OAS is fully clawed back at roughly $148,451 (ages 65–74) or $154,196 (age 75+). Both threshold and ceiling index with inflation.$0$0
Other pension$0$0
Withdrawals from savings
  TFSA tax-free$0$0
  RRSP fully taxable$0$0
  Non-registered cap gains taxable$0$0
Estimated income tax (BC + Federal) ⓘLoading…$0$0
Net spending available$0$0

Appendix — where Canadians stand, by age

Median net worth of Canadian families and unattached individuals, by the age of the major income earner. Your own net worth is plotted on the same scale.

Read these carefully. They are medians, not averages — half of Canadians in each band sit below the figure shown. Averages run far higher because a small number of very large fortunes pull them up, which is why a median is the fairer yardstick for "am I on track". The national median across all ages is $519,700.

Statistics Canada counts more than this calculator does: its net worth includes the value of employer pension entitlements and any second property or business equity. If you have a defined benefit pension, your true position is meaningfully better than the bars above suggest. Treat the comparison as a rough bearing, not a score.

Source: Statistics Canada, Survey of Financial Security, 2023 (released 29 October 2024), Table 1 — median net worth in constant 2023 dollars, economic families and persons not in an economic family. The survey runs roughly every three to four years; 2023 is the most recent.

Ready to turn this plan into action?

This calculator gives you a starting point — but every path to financial independence deserves a careful look at your full tax picture, registered account strategy, business income (if applicable), estate goals, and risk tolerance. We work with British Columbia individuals and business owners to build personalized, tax-efficient strategies for lasting financial security.

Get a one-on-one review of your numbers, identify opportunities you may be missing, and walk away with a clear path toward a work-optional life.

Book a 30-min chat Visit our website
Important disclaimer: This calculator is for illustrative planning purposes only. It uses simplified assumptions including a blended return on combined RRSP/TFSA/non-registered savings, a flat tax estimate based on combined BC + Federal 2026 marginal brackets applied to taxable withdrawals (RRSP) and government benefits, OAS Recovery Tax (clawback) at the 2026 threshold of $93,454 indexed with inflation, and constant real inflation. It does not account for RRIF minimum withdrawal rules, pension income splitting, age amount or pension credits, or sequence-of-returns risk. Actual outcomes will vary. Real-world planning toward financial independence should incorporate your full tax picture, estate goals, and potential changes to government benefits. Government benefit amounts shown reflect 2026 figures and may increase with future indexation. Consult a qualified financial planner or CPA before making decisions.
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Reviewed by Steven Alexander, CPA · Updated