Legally shifting income from the higher-earning spouse to the lower-earning one, reducing the household's combined tax bill. For Ontario couples with $1M+ in retirement assets, income splitting is one of the most powerful and accessible tax planning tools available.

For affluent Ontarians, understanding and planning for this rule is one of the most important elements of a comprehensive wealth plan. Failing to account for it can leave your estate and your beneficiaries, facing an unexpected and potentially enormous tax bill.

Not all investment income is created equal in the eyes of the CRA. A dollar of interest income, a dollar of eligible Canadian dividends, and a dollar of capital gains are taxed very differently. For retirees drawing from a significant portfolio, those differences add up to thousands of dollars every year.

Whether your retirement is 2 years away or 10, this checklist will help you identify what's in order, what still needs attention, and what conversations to have with your advisor before you make the leap.

Ontario's long-term care system has changed dramatically in recent years. Wait times are long, publicly funded options are limited, and the cost of private or semi-private care has escalated significantly. For those who want choice, comfort, and quality of care in their later years, the financial requirements can easily exceed $10,000 per month or more.

Imagine two retirees who both earn an average investment return of 6% per year over a 20-year retirement. Both start with $1 million. Both withdraw $60,000 per year. One runs out of money before the end of retirement; the other still has a significant balance. The difference? The order in which the returns arrived.

Planning for a 30-year retirement is fundamentally different from planning for a 15-year retirement, and the consequences of getting it wrong are felt not in your 60s, but in your 80s and 90s, when your options are most limited.

Deferring your CPP to age 70 can mean tens of thousands of dollars more in guaranteed, inflation-protected income over your retirement. For the right person, it is one of the highest-returning, lowest-risk financial decisions available.

If your net income in retirement exceeds $93,454 (2025), the CRA begins quietly taking back your Old Age Security benefit dollar by dollar. For many affluent Ontarians, this clawback can reduce or entirely eliminate a benefit you've been entitled to your entire working life.

The RRSP tax trap is this: every dollar you've sheltered in your RRSP will eventually be taxed as ordinary income when it comes out. And for those with large balances, $500,000, $1 million, or more, the tax hit can be enormous.

Most retirees draw from their accounts out of habit or convenience, without realizing that the order and source of withdrawals has an enormous impact on their lifetime tax bill, OAS entitlement, and the wealth they ultimately leave to their families.

Retirement changes everything. When you have $1 million or more and are drawing it down to fund your lifestyle, the rules that served you in accumulation are insufficient, and in some cases, actively counterproductive.