October 15, 2021 — Benefits Canada

Helping employees understand the benefits of delaying CPP/QPP

According to a 2020 research paper by the National Institute on Ageing, fewer than one per cent of Canadians delayed CPP/QPP benefits until age 70 in 2009, while more than 95 per cent took CPP/QPP at age 65 or earlier the same year.

Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald, Director of Financial Security Research at the institute and the paper’s author, says a lack of knowledge is the top reason Canadians take their CPP/QPP benefits earlier than what might be good for them. “During my research, I was notified by Employment and Social Development Canada that they were running an online survey to understand why people were taking CPP early. What they found was two-thirds of Canadians didn’t understand that the income would go up if they waited.”