Isn't there a min amount of years you have to work for govt retirement programs?

There used to be one that allowed you to input your income (CPP, employment pension etc) and not only would it say what any OAS one might get but GIS too, if your income was at an appropriate sort of level.

Beats me why that aspect was done away with. Fear of making people think they wouldn't be that badly off to the point they stopped preparing for retirement perhaps?

About the only thing I can think of would be the need to have 10 years residency in Canada since age 18 for OAS, so if you were short of that you might want to hit your tenth year before retiring.

GIS can top up OAS but it appears there has to be some OAS to top up.

Residency in some countries does count though so it's not as drastic as it sounds.

I've got the 10 years nearly, thought I had read one needed some huge amount of time in the workforce like decades worth to qualify, but may have been about something else.. lol Can't recall where I even read it.

Obviously not retiring anytime soon and may not even live in Canada when the time comes, just curious is all.

But it is 20 years if you live outside of Canada when you collect it.

Yes, that rings a bell.

So, Jsmth, don't leave unless you've got 20 years in.

Well we may very well be here for another 10 who knows.

I may just end up in a position where I haven't been in any country long enough working to get anything...lol. depending on what the US rules are.

US looks like you need 40 credits minimum and as long as you make over $5,040 per year you should get the maximum of 4 per year, so seems no problemo qualifying there before retirement hits.

The credits appear to not expire so based on my previous years there working. My math says I should already have a fair amount of them.

I have at least 7 years working there and making over $5,040.

So if we move to the US appears to be no problem hitting the credits needed.

Yes, I remember that too. In the meantime, if you click on the 'select your income range' on this page, it tells you the OAS / GIS payments you can get.

Table 1 - Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) amounts for an income range of $0.00 to $431.99

If your yearly income, not including your OAS pension, exceeds $17,375.99, you do not qualify for the Guaranteed Income Supplement.

Yes. (but still likely get OAS)
And if you have no other income (other than OAS) then you'll be on for monthly maximim OAS topped up by GIS to $1429.76.

Where it's much less clear - and where that previous calculator is missed - is all those points in between when you don't get the 40 years/full OAS.

I've read a couple of other articles and I know, for example, that income (other than OAS) is deducted 50c in the $ from GIS.

As you look down those tables you can see each monthly figure reducing by $1 a month because the annual figure has gone up by $24 - with $24 a year being $2 monthly, hence $1 a month reduction.

I suppose it's fair to go on the basis that most people will have 40 years in Canada from age 18 and will, therefore, get the full rate of OAS and then the GIS from the middle column according to the other income.

But there will be folk - like us Brits, but Canadians too, who spent years outside Canada - who haven't got 40 years in and may only get partial OAS. They need to know what their GIS levels will be.

One of the articles I read talked about about GIS making up OAS shortfalls so, for example, on that first line of no income and OAS/GIS making $1429.76 it will still do so, because GIS increases to make up for lower OAS

In many ways this looks a bit unfair if those who have done 40 years don't actually gain anything from having done so in terns of OAS/GIS.

There must be quite a few of us who won't have hit 40 years because of (mainly) time in the UK. The website does say that such time may count, but it's not clear just how much.

If, for example, one has done 15 years in Canada and 25 years in the UK, does that count as the full 40 or does it mean one only gets 15/40ths of the OAS...but then more GIS (depending on other income) to make up for it?

If one has done 5 in Canada which doesn't meet the 10 year rule but has done 15 years in the UK, does that make 20 years for half/partial OAS or does it simply mean that a partial OAS of 5/40ths would, exceptionally, be allowable.

And as a final further confusion, my mother in law gets OAS and GIS but it's a couple of hundred more than that $1429 a month.

It seems there's a higher rate for widows. But is the qualifier when you are widowed after your OAS has already been in payment or is it because one was already widowed at the time OAS begins?

....and breathe....

I agree with that.

Related to the above with respect to having 40 years residence in Canada to qualify for full 100% OAS.

On the basis other income such as CPP, investments, foreign income is low enough to qualify for GIS

How receiving a partial OAS pension affects GIS amounts

My interpretation

At retirement age 65

Person A gets full 100% OAS ~$570/mth. Their CPP or other income is low enough to qualify them for some GIS, lets say an amount of $100

Person B being an immigrant having only 20 years residence in Canada gets only 50% OAS or $285/mth. Their CPP or other income is exactly the same as person A, yet combined person B would appear to have less total income if they get the same GIS as person A.

Service Canada does not like to publish or provide details of the fact that person B will be topped up with more GIS so that they & person A will get the same amount of total income. In other words, person B will get an extra $285 GIS as a make up difference of the lower GIS of the two persons

Every retired senior over 65 living in Canada 10 years or more qualifies for OAS. In the event all other income (other than OAS) is less than the 'guaranteed minimum threshold' ~$1429/mth - they will receive top up supplements to the maximum on the 'table of rates'.


.

That's one of the articles I previously came across.



Hence my comment earlier as a reason for no longer publishing the calculator that they used to. Obviously it's nice to be thinking higher and I daresay many on BE will be doing so. Even I will be thinking higher, but it will still involve OAS/GIS, just not at the minimum level that my mother in law does very well from.

She does indeed

Doesn't she live with you?

Yes.

Of course Seniors won't do so well everywhere but that $1400 minimum will go a long way when there are very nice one bedroom apartments-a-plenty for anything between $400 and $700 inclusive.

Or their own house all paid off but with property taxes, insurance and water for less.

that's the point isn't it, take 'apples for apples' seniors living in Moncton, Fredricton, Montreal, Summerside, St John's, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Toronto, they all get the same amount of OAS/GIS.

$1400/mth will go further in some of the places in Canada, to the point $1400/mth for a decent one bedroom apartment in Toronto. Well maybe $800/mth for a damp basement apartment + utilities

Yeah, I know, so move to one of the lower overall cost of living places of Canada so that your government hand-outs will go further

I'm guessing without hard facts, that it will likely cost more to live in Kingston Ontario than it would in Moncton.

.

We are not seniors but 1400 will cover our rent, car insurance, hydro and phone roughly.

2 weeks salary alone goes to rent. After tax salary.

Now if we could move our income with us to a place like New Found land we could probably do okay, but most of the income would not follow and it's too much risk not to have a safety net.