§ Calculator · Retirement
Income floor / essential coverage
Looking for the time-horizon bucket strategy (cash / bonds / stocks with refill rules)? See the Three-bucket drawdown simulator.
What this is
Match spending categories to guaranteed income sources (income-floor approach)
Split retirement spending into essentials (must-pay), discretionary (lifestyle), and legacy (gifts/inheritance). Cover essentials with GUARANTEED income (CPP + OAS + DB pension). Use the portfolio for the rest. This is the INCOME-FLOOR variant of bucket planning, not the time-horizon variant.
- ·Essential bucket: rent/mortgage, groceries, utilities, transit, insurance, minimum healthcare. The stuff you must pay even in a market crash.
- ·Discretionary bucket: dining, travel, hobbies, gear. The stuff you can scale down in bad market years.
- ·Legacy bucket: gifts to kids, charitable, inheritance. Optional, future-dated.
Essential bucket
$46,800
Discretionary bucket
$18,000
Legacy bucket
$7,200
Essential coverage
100%
Portfolio burden /yr
$24,000
Coverage band
mostly resilient
Annual spending split into buckets
Essential coverage: guaranteed income vs essential bucket
Educational. Not financial advice. The 'cover essentials with guaranteed income' rule is the foundation of bucket strategy, defer CPP to 70 to maximise guaranteed income if your essentials are large.
Disclaimer
Educational, not financial advice. Output is generated by an AI assistant using simplified assumptions. Tax rates, contribution limits, and benefit amounts change annually; confirm with a CFP, CPA, or the relevant Canadian regulator (CRA, FSRA, OSC, IIROC) before acting.