Question: What age should Frank, Wendy, or both take CPP and Why ?

Frank and Wendy Lee are clients of yours. Frank is 60 years old, and Wendy is also 60 years old. They are parents of two adult children that no longer require any financial support. They have been employed for 35 years following their graduation from an Ontario University, and have been Canadian residents their entire lives. Both have Pension plans. Franks tenure with his employer is longer than Wendys, therefore his pension plan, a Defined Contribution plan, should provide for a higher pension income at age 65. Wendy s pension plan is currently a Defined Benefit plan, but she has only been employed with her current employer for 5 years. They both have contributed to their RRSPs over the years and maxed out what was remaining in RRSP contribution room. They both have TFSAs as well, but have asked to not include these figures in their Retirement Income projections, as they are saving these funds for Travel. Frank and Wendy have contacted you via e-mail concerning some questions they have about the timing of their Retirement. Their e-mail to you indicates the last couple of years have been a challenge with Covid-19, and dealing with the impacts of this at work and home. They have recently received some unfortunate news concerning Wendys health. Even though its not an immediate issue, due to the potential impact on Wendys life expectancy this news has resulted in them looking at retirement differently, and seriously considering retiring now at age 60 versus the plan all along, which was to wait until age 65. They have requested a response from you in two weeks in order to give you time to prepare. They have run some figures, and concluded they with some adjustments to their original plan to retire with $80,000 after tax income at age 65, they only need about $60,000 after tax annually to make this work at age 60. For the purposes of this case make the following assumptions: Both of their Pension Plans have provisions that will allow for each of Frank and Wendy to retire at age 60. They both have contributed to CPP at the maximum YMPE levels throughout their careers. All pension calculations and amounts should reflect 2022 figures, which will require some research. Wendy has been a member of her employers Pension Plan from the time she was hired, and when she Joined the plan she opted for a Survivor Benefit option of 66 2/3%. Individually for each in retirement, assume a 20% average tax rate.