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CPP or QPP: when should you start your pension?

Every month you wait after 65 raises your pension by 0.7%, for life. Every month before 65 lowers it. Start from the amount on your statement and see the age after which waiting would pay more.

Your situation

Are you already receiving your CPP pension?
Do you have your statement?
a month

The estimated monthly amount if you start at 65.

Age the pension starts
For survival odds

The result

Choose your province

Tax and rules differ from one province to the next. Choose yours to see the answer: nothing is guessed from your language.

Estimate based on 2026 rules and your answers. Not personalized advice.

How it works

The pays a pension for life, indexed every year to the cost of living. Your Statement of Contributions estimates the pension at 65 from your work earnings.

Before 65, the pension is reduced by 0.6% for each month early: 36% less at 60. After 65, it rises by 0.7% for each month you wait, up to 42% more at 70.

Starting later means fewer years of payments, but larger ones. The break-even age is the age after which the total received from the later start exceeds the earlier one. We compute it in , since the pension is indexed.

The odds of being alive at that age come from the survival table in and ’s Projection Assumption Guidelines, for someone your age. It’s an average: your health and family history matter more.

The right age also depends on what else you have: if your can cover a few years, waiting protects an indexed income for life. If you need the money now, starting early can be reasonable.

Common questions

Can I work while receiving my pension?

Yes. Before 65, you keep contributing to the CPP if you work; from 65 to 70 it’s optional. Those contributions earn the post-retirement benefit, added to your pension.

What if I die early?

Your retirement pension stops. Your spouse could receive a survivor’s pension, calculated under its own rules; it doesn’t depend only on the age you started.

What happens after 70?

The pension stops increasing at 70. Waiting longer doesn’t add anything.

What about OAS?

Old Age Security follows its own rules: it starts between 65 and 70 and rises by 0.6% for each month you defer. Plus chooses both ages together, for you and your spouse.