When Should I Start CPP — 60, 65, or 70?

The Canada Pension Plan offers one of retirement's few genuinely adjustable dials: a retirement pension you may start any month between 60 and 70. The arithmetic is fixed and public — take it before 65 and the pension shrinks by 0.6% for every early month (36% smaller at 60); wait past 65 and it grows by 0.7% per month (42% larger at 70).

Because the adjustment is permanent and the pension is inflation-indexed for life, the timing decision is really a question about longevity, work, and what role this guaranteed income plays in your plan.

The case for waiting is insurance logic: a pension 42% larger at 70, indexed for life, is the cheapest protection available against the risk of living long — and for those who can bridge the gap from savings, drawing down RRSPs in the 60s while CPP grows often improves the whole plan, converting fully taxable registered money in lower-income years while the guaranteed base builds. Break-even ages typically land in the early-to-mid 80s; beyond them, the deferral wins every year.

The case for starting early is equally legitimate: health or family history that argues against betting on longevity; a genuine need for the income; retirement before 65 with years of zero earnings that would dilute the benefit calculation (the general drop-out provisions absorb some, not all); or a plan that values money in the active years over money in the late ones. Owners add a wrinkle: those paying themselves dividends stop contributing to CPP at all, which caps the benefit and shifts the analysis. And remember the working rules — collecting before 65 while still working means mandatory contributions that buy small post-retirement benefit top-ups; after 65 they become optional.