Retirement Income system in Canada
To help us plan our retirement in better way, it is very important for us to understand the Canadian retirement income system. There are three main sources of retirement income that you we be able to draw from:
•Personal Savings & Investments;
•Government pension benefits;
•Employer pension plans.
Government pension benefits provide a modest base on which to build your retirement income. To maintain our pre-retirement lifestyle, most Canadians will require most of their retirement income to come from personal savings and investments and/or employer pensions.

Personal Savings & Investments;

The savings and investments we accumulate during your working years can include:
•Funds in Savings accounts;
•Stocks and bonds investments;
•Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs)
•Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs); and
•Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSA).
We may also have accumulated property such home, or any other assets. One may also consider using property or assets as other sources of retirement income.

Government pension benefits
The Government of Canada provides these pension benefits:
•Canada Pension Plan (CPP) retirement pension;
•Old Age Security (OAS) pension;
•Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS);
•Allowance and the Allowance for the Survivor.

Employer pensions
Many employers offer a pension plan to help their employees save for their retirement. There are two main types of registered plans:
•Defined benefit plans that provides a pre-determined percentage of working salary when we retire.
•Defined contribution plans provide you with a pension benefit based on the accumulated contributions and investment income.
If we made contributions to one of these types of plans, we should receive a statement from the plan administrator that tells you the balance of your investment in the plan or how much you can expect to receive as retirement income.

If we participate in a pension plan that is integrated with the CPP, the amount of pension benefits you receive from the plan is reduced when you qualify for CPP retirement benefits.
Other types of retirement savings plans that employers sponsor include deferred profit-sharing plans and group Registered Retirement Savings Plans. If we have contributed to one of these types of plans, then one must contact to his/her employer to find out what type of benefits you can expect to receive from the plan.

The fact is despite of various funding options available, one must plan their retirement to live life easier.