Retirement Planning › Pre-Retirement Planning
For Canadians 15 years or less from retirement

You still have time
to get this exactly right.

The decade before retirement is the most consequential financial period of your life. The decisions you make now — on tax, pension, insurance, and estate — will determine the quality of everything that comes after. Most people navigate it without a coordinated plan.

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Why the next 10–15 years matter most
The window where every decision still has room to compound.
15
years out
Maximum flexibility
You have time to restructure, reposition, and optimize without pressure. Every dollar saved now has 15 years to compound in the right account, in the right structure.
10
years out
Decisions start to lock in
Pension elections, CPP strategy, insurance gaps — these decisions are approaching with real deadlines. Getting them right requires a full picture, not a product recommendation.
5
years out
The final adjustment window
Income strategy, drawdown sequencing, estate alignment — the plan needs to be built and tested before the transition, not after. Some corrections can't be made once you've retired.
The tension you're feeling

You've built something real. The question now is whether the decisions ahead match the work that got you here.

You're not starting from zero. You've been working, saving, and building — often for decades. The foundation is there. What's missing is the strategy that connects what you've accumulated to the life you're building toward.

The problem isn't effort. It's that the financial decisions of the pre-retirement decade are categorically different from the decisions that built your wealth. Accumulation is relatively forgiving. The transition is not.

You can't undo a pension election made without a full picture. You can't reclaim the RRSP room you should have managed differently. You can't reverse the estate structure that didn't reflect your intentions. These decisions have a window — and then they close.

  • You have a pension decision approaching — and you're not sure whether the commuted value or monthly income is right for your situation.
  • You're maximizing your RRSP but nobody's modelled what the RRIF conversion looks like in 15 years — or how to manage it.
  • Your investments are spread across multiple accounts and institutions with no coordinated strategy connecting them.
  • You're incorporated or self-employed and the bridge between your corporation and your personal retirement has never been mapped.
  • Your will and beneficiary designations haven't been reviewed since you signed them — and your life has changed significantly since then.
  • You've never had someone look at the full picture — income, tax, pension, insurance, estate — at the same time, by the same advisor.
What getting it right looks like

You still have time.
More than you think.

The pre-retirement decade isn't a countdown. It's the highest-leverage planning window of your financial life — if you use it deliberately.

A coordinated tax strategy — before the RRIF clock starts
The RRIF mandatory withdrawal rules are set at 71. How you manage your RRSP in the years before that — meltdown strategy, spousal contributions, income splitting — can save tens of thousands in tax over a 20-year retirement.
Tax Optimization
Pension decisions made with full information — not best guesses
Whether you have a defined benefit pension, a group RRSP, or both — the decisions around election timing, commuted value, and integration with CPP and OAS require a complete picture. Most people make these decisions without one.
Pension Planning
Protection gaps closed before they become claims
Most Canadians are over-insured on permanent life and under-insured on disability and critical illness. A coverage review in the pre-retirement decade — while you're still insurable — is materially different from one made in your 70s.
Insurance Review
A corporate bridge strategy — if you're incorporated
If you hold a professional corporation or business, the path from retained earnings to personal retirement income is not automatic. Salary vs. dividend optimization, capital dividend account access, and holding company structure all require deliberate planning before you stop working.
Corporate Strategy
An estate plan that reflects who you are now
Wills, powers of attorney, and beneficiary designations written 10 years ago may not reflect your current family structure, asset mix, or intentions. Estate misalignment is one of the most common — and most avoidable — financial failures we see.
Estate Foundations
One coordinated plan — not a collection of disconnected products
Most Canadians arrive at retirement with investments at one institution, insurance at another, and an estate lawyer who's never spoken to their financial advisor. A coordinated plan treats all of it as one system — because it is.
Coordinated Planning
What we work through together

Six areas.
One coordinated plan.

We don't look at your investments in isolation. We don't hand you an insurance product without reviewing your full protection picture. And we don't build a retirement income strategy without first understanding what retirement actually looks like for you.

Pre-retirement planning, done well, examines all six areas below at the same time — because they're connected. A tax decision affects your estate. A pension decision affects your CPP timing. An insurance gap affects your estate. These aren't separate conversations.

01
Income & Tax Strategy
RRSP/TFSA optimization, income splitting, RRIF planning, corporate salary vs. dividend — building the most tax-efficient path from here to retirement and through it.
02
Pension & Government Benefits
DB pension elections, CPP timing strategy, OAS optimization, group plan decisions — each one modelled against your full income picture.
03
Protection & Insurance
Life, disability, critical illness — reviewed for coverage gaps, product suitability, and cost efficiency. Not a sales process. A diagnostic.
04
Corporate & Business Planning
For incorporated professionals and business owners — the bridge from corporate retained earnings to personal retirement income, structured before you stop working.
05
Estate Foundations
Wills, POAs, beneficiary designations, joint tenancy, testamentary trust — reviewed for alignment with your current intentions and coordinated with your financial plan.
06
Investment Coordination
Asset allocation, account structure, drawdown sequencing — investments reviewed not as a standalone portfolio but as one component of your complete retirement income plan.
The window is open now

The best time to build
this plan was five years ago.

The second-best time is now. Every year you delay a coordinated pre-retirement plan is a year of compound decisions made without one — RRSP contributions going into the wrong structure, insurance gaps growing unchecked, estate documents drifting further from your intentions.

The cost of waiting isn't inaction. It's the accumulation of small decisions made without a complete picture — each one reasonable on its own, each one harder to unwind the closer you get to retirement.

What the next three steps look like.

01
Book a Free Clarity Call
60 minutes. We understand where you are, what's approaching, and whether the Life-First Blueprint™ is the right fit for your situation. No commitment. No pitch.
02
The Life-First Blueprint™
Five movements. Approximately seven sessions. We build your complete pre-retirement strategy — income, tax, pension, insurance, estate — all coordinated, all tied to the life you described in Movement Two.
03
A plan that stays alive
Two semi-annual reviews per year. As your situation evolves — career changes, pension decisions, inheritance, market shifts — your plan adjusts. You never face a major decision without an advisor in your corner.
Book a Free Clarity Call
The recommended path

Pre-retirement planning
is what the Life-First
Blueprint™ was built for.

The Life-First Blueprint™ is our comprehensive retirement planning process — five movements, approximately seven sessions, one coordinated plan. It starts with the life you want to live and builds the financial strategy backward from there. Every recommendation is anchored to your vision, not a product menu.

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What you walk away with

Four documents. A complete picture.

After completing the Life-First Blueprint™, every client holds four things they did not have before — and a plan that stays current as their life evolves.

Current Life Score™ — your scored baseline across four life domains
Life Vision Document™ — a written, signed description of the retirement you're building toward
Gap Analysis Report — every vulnerability and decision point identified
Life-First Financial Plan™ — your comprehensive written plan, priority-led