# Is CPP Calculator Working Right?



## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

I was doing a CPP estimate for my wife, using the Service Canada's CPP calculator. I had her statement of benefits at age 65. Got the number for age 60. Then I went into the part that calculates what happens if there are no earnings between now and age 60. Without that, the calculator had my 49 year old wife collecting $520 per month at age 60. When I told the calculator that she will not earn any pensionable earnings between now (age 49) and age 60, it came back and said that she will still get $520 per month.

It seems hard for me to understand that if she has 11 years without any CPP contributions at all, that she will get the same benefit as if she continued on her past income stream, contributing to CPP accordingly. We have no children or anything else for it to calculate.

Anyone had any experience with this? Is it correct? Am I missing something?


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

It doesn't work for zero income years. Change her income for those years to the minimum and it should be closer (but not exactly right, because obviously she won't actually be earning the minimum).


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

Thanks. That did it. You would think they would fix that glitch. Not a huge deal but the actual number came in at $429 per month (instead of $520), and as you said, it is probably a little high, since her income will not be $5,000 per year until 60, but it was the lowest number I could use, other then zero.

Thanks Spudd


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## Dogger1953 (Dec 14, 2012)

OptsyEagle - Here's a link to a thread that I started previously on the same issue: http://canadianmoneyforum.com/showthread.php/16743-Don-t-trust-the-online-CPP-calculator-results!!!

Based on my calculations $429 is probably too high even if she did have earnings of $5,000 per year, but I'd need her full CPP record of earnings to give you an accurate number.


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## Dogger1953 (Dec 14, 2012)

OptsyEagle - I've done a couple of quick calculations to determine the min/max that your wife's CPP could be at age 60, based on the information that you've given. It could be as low as $380 or as high as $460. This is the range assuming she didn't have any children. If she did, the lower range is still valid but the higher range could go up considerably.
The reason for this range, is that her current estimate of $520 could be based on approx 20.13 years of max contributions and 11 years of zero contributions, or it could be based on 31 years of contributions at 78.25% of max (or anywhere in between these two extremes). Both scenarios would result in the same Service Canada calculation when done at age 49, but they would produce very different results when done at age 60.


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## Retired Peasant (Apr 22, 2013)

This might help:
http://retirehappy.ca/how-to-calculate-your-cpp-retirement-pension/


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