A couple in their sixties walking a lakeside path in late afternoon light.

Cover story · Sponsored

The annual CPP increase that affects millions of Canadians

A change to Canada Pension Plan payments took effect in January 2026. The adjustment was 2.0% — but it does not add the same number of dollars to every pension.

Candy On Bone Editorial
9 min read

The month in numbers

2.0%

The CPP adjustment that took effect in January 2026, on benefits paid during 2025.

6.8 million

People received a CPP benefit in an average month of fiscal 2024–25.

Oct 28

The October 2026 payment date for CPP and Old Age Security.

A series in four parts

Reading your own pension paperwork

All of Pensions

A man in his late sixties reading a printed statement at a desk by a window.

Part 1

The line on your CPP record that almost nobody checks

A wall calendar in a kitchen with a few dates marked in pencil.

Part 2

The CPP payment date most people get wrong by a week

A plain notebook, a pen and an out-of-focus printed page on a table.

Part 3

When the deposit doesn't match the letter

A kitchen table with tax paperwork, a pen and a half-finished cup of coffee.

Part 4

The tax bill that surprises people in their first year of CPP

Pensions

The CPP payment date most people get wrong by a week

CPP does not arrive on the first of the month, and December is not like the others. The 2026 dates, and why they move.

What it really costs to start CPP five years early What happens to a CPP pension when a spouse dies

Taxes

The tax bill that surprises people in their first year of CPP

CPP is taxable income, but no tax comes off it unless you ask. The first spring after retiring is when people find that out.

How the OAS recovery tax quietly takes some of it back Who actually gains from splitting pension income

Money

A handwritten list of figures on lined paper beside a teapot.

What a two per cent increase really does to a monthly budget

An indexation figure is a national average of prices, not a description of your groceries. Where the two diverge is the part worth understanding.

The year your RRSP stops being your decision When the deposit doesn't match the letter

Home

A modest two-storey Canadian house on a residential street in autumn.

What the numbers say about staying in the family home

The mortgage may be gone, but the house is not free. A plain accounting of what staying costs against what moving costs.

The renovation credit many Canadians over 65 never claim

Also this month

More from the magazine

Several opened plain envelopes and folded letters on a wooden table.

Pensions

The four retirement payments Canadians mix up most

CPP, OAS, GIS and Quebec's QPP are four different programs with four different rulebooks. Confusing them is where most of the mistakes start.

9 October 2026 · 8 min read

Pensions

The line on your CPP record that almost nobody checks

Your statement of contributions goes back to your first job. Gaps in it are common, sometimes wrong, and occasionally fixable.

7 October 2026 · 7 min read

A plain printed form on a desk with a pencil resting on it.

Taxes

Three tax credits retired Canadians leave on the table

They are not loopholes and they are not new. They are standard lines on the return that get skipped because nobody mentions them.

5 October 2026 · 7 min read

The Monthly Letter

Once a month: one change explained, one number worth checking.

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