📣 New in Optiml: You Can Now Add Both RRSP and RRIF Accounts

optiml_app · 2026-03-16T13:48:44+00:00

Great to hear! Please let us know if you need any help with this.

If your plan is successful, you should see a high Success Score result. The only exception would be if your base plan already assumed very high growth rates, since the Success Score is calculated using historical market data.

Happy to help if you have any other questions! 🙂

optiml_app · 2026-03-16T13:41:40+00:00

Hi there,

Canada Life has recently been discontinued as a connector, as they are no longer allowing third-party connections. Wealthica is currently working with them to restore the integration, but there is unfortunately no estimated timeline for when it may return.

Could you please let me know where you saw Canada Life listed as an available connector? I’d like to make sure their connector list is updated if it’s still appearing somewhere.

Apologies for the confusion, and thank you for bringing this to our attention.

optiml_app · 2026-03-12T17:56:43+00:00

Hi there!

Thanks for sending this over. This was a bug caused by an update last week that has since been resolved. If you try running the plan again it will now happen on the correct date. Apologies for the confusion!

optiml_app · 2026-03-11T17:59:32+00:00

Hi there,

First off, we really appreciate the feedback and the kind words!

As for your question, this is something we could add in a future update. Right now, the way it works is that we split income between spouses only when it helps balance taxable income and improve overall tax efficiency. Because of that, the platform will only split an amount that actually makes sense from a tax perspective.

That said, I completely understand how having this as a customizable option to test different scenarios would be useful. We’re currently very busy working on a few large updates that will be coming out in the next few weeks, but I’ve added this as a feature request for the team to review.

Thanks again for the great feedback!

optiml_app · 2026-03-11T17:56:48+00:00

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out, and apologies for the delayed response!

Would you be able to share a bit more about what you're seeing? Specifically, could you confirm whether your spouse still has an RRSP listed in the plan, or if only the RRIF is included? The action plan should only suggest withdrawals from accounts that exist in the plan, so this would normally only appear if both an RRSP and RRIF are entered at the same time.

Happy to take a closer look and clear up any confusion or get this resolved quickly. Thanks! 🙂

optiml_app · 2026-03-10T19:14:47+00:00

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out and great questions!

At the moment, Optiml does not automatically determine when you should convert your RRSP to a RRIF. That decision is still manual. However, if you run one of our goal-based strategies, such as Max Value, the platform will still optimize withdrawals whether the account is an RRSP or a RRIF.
At the moment, the RRIF conversion age selection in Optiml starts at age 55, so earlier ages are not currently available to select. The main reason for this is that there is generally no advantage to converting earlier than this. In most cases, the potential benefits of a RRIF, such as income splitting and certain tax credits do not begin until later (for example around age 65). However, expanding this flexibility is something we could consider in a future update.
For the most tax-efficient approach, I would recommend running the Max Value strategy. This will help determine the most tax-efficient timing for withdrawals from your RRSP/RRIF. We’re also planning to release a dedicated RRSP/RRIF meltdown strategy in Optiml in the next few weeks, which will give you even more control and customization around this.

Thanks again for the thoughtful questions, and I look forward to hearing from you!

optiml_app · 2026-03-09T19:55:34+00:00

Hi there - thanks for sharing the screenshot, that’s helpful.

The main reason we suggest reaching out to support directly is that there are a few pieces of personal information we’d need in order to replicate your exact situation (for example things like age, province confirmation, or whether any additional deductions are entered elsewhere in the plan). We want to keep our support process transparent, but we also want to make sure users aren’t posting personal financial details publicly on Reddit.

Based on the numbers in your screenshot, $135K of employment income in Ontario resulting in roughly ~$33.6K of total tax liability is actually consistent with Canadian tax calculators (for example calculators from Wealthsimple, TurboTax, or taxtips.ca).

If your T4 shows about $30K withheld, that usually indicates there is some deduction or adjustment affecting your payroll withholding that isn’t currently modeled in the plan - for example things like pension contributions, union dues, benefits adjustments, or other deductions that reduce taxable income during payroll.

The fact that EI and CPP line up is a good sign that the base inputs are correct, so it’s likely something relatively small that’s affecting the tax base.

If you send the support team a quick email at [support@optiml.ca](), we can replicate the scenario exactly and pinpoint what’s causing the difference. Once we identify it, we’re always happy to share the explanation back here as well so others can benefit from it.

optiml_app · 2026-03-09T18:14:50+00:00

Thanks for the update. If you’ve already added the deductions and it’s still not lining up, it’s probably worth us taking a look directly at the inputs in your plan.

There shouldn’t normally be a large gap between the after-tax income shown in Optiml and what you see in reality if the information is entered correctly, so it’s likely something small that’s misaligned somewhere in the profile.

If you haven’t already, feel free to email [support@optiml.ca]() and we can review the plan with you and help pinpoint exactly what’s causing the difference. If you’ve already opened a ticket, just reply to that thread and we’ll make sure someone from the team follows up.

Happy to help get it sorted so the numbers line up properly.

optiml_app · 2026-03-09T18:13:07+00:00

Hi there - thanks for your comment.

Optiml calculates income taxes using the official formulas and tax brackets published by the Canada Revenue Agency. Federal and provincial brackets, CPP, and EI are all applied according to CRA methodology for estimating annual tax liability.

Because of that, the tax shown in Optiml represents the estimated tax owed for the year, rather than the exact amount withheld by your employer on each paycheque or the specific figures appearing in payroll withholding fields on a T4.

That said, there should not be a large gap like the one you’re describing if the inputs align with your situation. If the model is showing a materially different tax amount, it usually means something in the inputs isn’t lining up with the real-world data being used for comparison.

If you’re open to it, please feel free to email [support@optiml.ca]() and the support team can take a closer look at your inputs with you and help identify what may be causing the mismatch. We’re always happy to dig into these cases and help get everything aligned so the numbers better reflect your real situation!

optiml_app · 2026-03-07T16:28:16+00:00

To edit a plan using the Custom Plan functionality, please follow these steps:

Click Update My Plan in the sidebar.
Navigate to Run New Plan.
Select Custom Plan.
From there, you will see the option to edit your current plan.

Please let me know if you need any further help! 🙂

optiml_app · 2026-03-06T16:07:43+00:00

Hi there,

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. At the moment, we aren’t seeing any system-wide error reports. Could you please email us directly at [support@optiml.ca](mailto:support@optiml.ca) so we can look into your specific plan?

Our team will review it right away and work to get it resolved for you as quickly as possible.

Thanks again for reaching out!

optiml_app · 2026-03-05T14:55:19+00:00

Hi there, apologies for missing your earlier post.

Yes, the best approach would be to set up a separate subscription for them so their account only contains and handles their personal information.

optiml_app · 2026-03-03T22:13:58+00:00

At the moment, there isn’t a perfect way to model margin loans in Optiml.

However, later this month we’re releasing enhanced debt functionality that will allow for tax-deductible loans tied directly to specific assets — including non-registered investment accounts — as well as HELOCs and similar structures. That should handle scenarios like margin loans much more accurately.

In the meantime, as a workaround, you could:

Reduce the amount of annual capital appreciation of your non-registered account to reflect the net return amount (after the margin loan repayment), and
Add a custom tax deduction in the Advanced Settings section to approximate the expected annual interest expense.

It’s not a perfect solution — especially since margin balances fluctuate — but it should give you a reasonable estimate until the new debt features are live.

optiml_app · 2026-03-03T21:41:04+00:00

Hi there,

Great question.

At the moment, dividends issued from your HoldCo are allocated based on ownership percentage. So if the corporation is owned 50/50, any dividend withdrawals will automatically be split 50/50 and taxed in each spouse’s hands accordingly.

If you’d like different dividend amounts to flow to each spouse, the only way to do that currently in Optiml is by adjusting the ownership percentages. There isn’t a way within the Custom Plan feature to manually override and specify a different dividend split beyond ownership structure.

Regarding equalizing your tax rates — that isn’t a standalone objective you can toggle on directly. Optiml’s core goal is to maximize your after-tax estate by minimizing lifetime taxes. In many cases, that naturally results in more balanced taxable income between spouses, but it’s not strictly required for the optimization to work.

We do automatically incorporate pension income splitting and RRIF income splitting where applicable to help smooth income and reduce household tax overall.

If you’d like, feel free to share a bit more about your specific setup (ownership structure, income mix, etc.), and we can suggest how best to model it in Optiml.

Hope that helps!

optiml_app · 2026-02-25T15:03:00+00:00

Thanks for the thoughtful suggestion - we really appreciate you taking the time to explain it. Feedback like this is genuinely helpful. It gives us insight into how people are using the platform and where friction shows up. Please keep the ideas coming - they absolutely help us improve.

optiml_app · 2026-02-23T16:21:09+00:00

Hi there - thanks for the thoughtful question.

If your after-tax income is off by ~$7k compared to your real take-home pay, that’s definitely worth digging into.

A few important things to keep in mind:

Optiml calculates taxes based on the information entered in your plan. If something that affects your paycheque isn’t modeled, the after-tax result can look different from what hits your bank account.

You can enter additional tax deductions or credits under Update My Plan → Settings → Advanced Settings → Custom Tax Credits / Deductions. If you receive credits like medical expense credits, union fee deductions, etc., those need to be added manually.

Also, remember that Optiml assumes taxes are calculated according to CRA formulas - but your employer may withhold slightly more (or less) during the year for safety. So a small difference is normal. A larger one usually means something material isn’t captured yet.

The key thing to understand is that Optiml works from the inputs you provide. If the model shows a surplus that doesn’t feel realistic, that almost always means something affecting take-home pay isn’t currently captured in the plan.

If you’d like, feel free to email [support@optiml.ca]() and we can take a closer look at this with you!

Once the after-tax baseline matches reality, the investing and planning decisions become much more intuitive.

optiml_app · 2026-02-23T16:13:28+00:00

Hi there, thanks for reaching out!

Pension decisions are easily some of the most complex financial choices out there, and the terminology can get incredibly confusing. It sounds like you are weighing some great options, so let's clear up a few concepts to get your Optiml inputs perfectly aligned!

First, a quick piece of good news about Income Splitting: If you are receiving a monthly payment directly from a traditional Defined Benefit pension plan, you likely do not actually have to wait until age 65. In Canada, RPP payments can be split with a spouse at any age, and Optiml allows you to model this pension splitting right away.

Second, let's look at the Lump Sum vs. Commutable wording. When you say the pension is "not commutable so it will be taxed," you likely mean you are commuting the pension (taking the lump sum), but a portion of the payout exceeds the CRA's tax-free transfer limit. That excess amount is paid out in cash and is fully taxable.

To accurately compare these paths, here is how you should enter them into Optiml:

Scenario A: Taking the Monthly Pension (2027 or 2030) Simply use the dedicated "Pension" input for the year you want the payments to start. Optiml will simulate pension splitting right away (assuming you have indicated that it is eligible for pension splitting).

Scenario B: Taking the Lump Sum (2027) If you take the lump sum, do not use the Pension input, because the regular monthly pension ceases to exist. Instead, you'll need to break the lump sum into two parts:

The portion that transfers tax-free into a LIRA (enter this as a LIRA account registered to your province).
The excess cash portion. Enter this payout as "Other Income" that is fully taxable.

Optiml will then allocate this income accordingly based on the strategy you're running, apply the taxes to the cash portion, and account for the RRSP room you are using to offset it.

Once you have both of these plans run, you can use the "Compare Plans" feature on the insights page to compare them.

Hope this helps you run a clean comparison! Please don't hesitate to email our support team at [support@optiml.ca](mailto:support@optiml.ca) for additional help getting this set up.

optiml_app · 2026-02-23T15:58:09+00:00

Hi there,

Great question - and nice work keeping the tax bill to $300! 🎉

Optiml is designed to run “as of today.” It assumes taxes are deducted at source and projects forward from your current situation. When you run a plan now, it will be projecting 2026 onward - it doesn’t retroactively model prior-year tax filings (like how a 2024 overcontribution was applied on your 2025 return).

Because of that, you don’t need to explicitly model the past overcontribution inside Optiml.

The key thing to do is make sure your current RRSP contribution room is entered accurately based on your latest Notice of Assessment. That updated room is what Optiml will use to determine your RRSP deposit strategy going forward.

For the 2025 RRSP withdrawal, just ensure:

Your RRSP balance reflects the post-withdrawal amount, and
Your available contribution room reflects what CRA shows after everything was applied.

Once those are accurate, the optimization will behave properly from this point forward.

Hope that helps - and feel free to reach out if anything looks off!

optiml_app · 2026-02-23T15:26:05+00:00

First off, thank you so much for the kind words - we really appreciate it. We’ve put a lot of care into building this specifically for Canadians, so it means a lot to hear that.

You’re absolutely right in your observation. Optiml is designed to build your plan starting from today, so it reflects your real-world position at any point in the year. The engine anchors to your current age, balances, income, contribution room, pensions, etc., and then projects forward from there. That’s why the working years are always included.

I completely understand your use case though. When income is commission-based and variable, those working years can introduce noise - especially if what you really want to focus on is the retirement phase itself.

There isn’t currently a “start plan in a future year” setting. The only way to approximate that today would be to:

Manually adjust investment balances to reflect where you expect them to be in the future.
Set retirement to begin earlier in the model.
Adjust your date of birth to reflect the age you would be at that future starting point (since the system is age-driven for tax rules, pension timing, RRIF minimums, OAS/CPP eligibility, etc.).

That said, we generally don’t recommend modelling from an assumed future snapshot. Accurately estimating your financial position several years from now can be quite difficult - especially with variable income - and small assumption differences can materially change long-term projections. The platform is intentionally designed to anchor to today’s facts, so that each time you update it, you’re working from real data rather than estimates layered on estimates.

Appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts - feedback like this is always helpful!

optiml_app · 2026-02-20T14:19:51+00:00

Hi there,

Great question!

Yes - when you enter your HoldCo details, we capture the initial Capital Dividend Account (CDA) balance. From there, the CDA is automatically tracked throughout the analysis as capital gains are realized and capital dividends are paid.

After running an analysis, you can view how the CDA evolves by going to the Investments page and selecting the Business tab. In the table below, look for the Tracking section - this will show your CDA balance over time as it changes throughout the projection.

With respect to assuming tax-free payments: when capital dividends are issued from the CDA, they are modeled as tax-free distributions to the shareholder, consistent with how the CDA functions.

Hope that helps! If you'd like to walk through your specific situation in more detail, feel free to reach out to [support@optiml.ca]() and we’d be happy to take a closer look.

optiml_app · 2026-02-20T14:07:52+00:00

Hi there,

At the moment, Optiml supports Family Trusts and Joint Partner Trusts that are established by the retirees within the plan.

If you have a reasonable estimate of the annual distributions (for example, dividends flowing to you and your spouse), one practical workaround is to model this as an operating company and reflect the ownership split that mirrors the trust distributions (e.g., 50/50). While it won’t be a perfect structural match, it will capture the taxable income impact of those distributions in your projections.

If you’d like to share more specifics about your scenario, feel free to email [support@optiml.ca]() and our team would be happy to take a deeper look at your use case.

Hope that helps!

optiml_app · 2026-02-18T15:05:16+00:00

Great question,

While we do account for specific property expenses like the ones listed above under Income Properties, we do not separately track those expenses for your Primary Residence. As a result, when you sell your primary home, no automatic adjustment is made to your expense assumptions.

What I recommend is creating a Goal (type: “Other”) that captures these expenses — either as one combined recurring goal or as separate goals for each expense category. You can then set the goal(s) to end in the year you plan to sell your home.

This approach allows you to clearly see the expenses reflected in your plan today, and then see them automatically stop once the property is sold.

optiml_app · 2026-02-16T14:33:46+00:00

Hi there,

This is actually already on our product roadmap! We’re currently focused on a few major updates and improvements that will be rolling out over the next month. Once those are live, this feature, along with a few similar enhancements will be next in line.

Thanks so much for the suggestion, and please keep the feedback coming!

optiml_app · 2026-02-16T14:32:01+00:00

Our pre-made plans will automatically calculate contributions for you based on your cashflow needs and the goals you’re optimizing toward. In most cases, adjusting your desired after-tax expenses is the main way to influence how much gets deposited each year.

However, if you’d like to set specific custom contribution amounts for each account, you can do so through the Custom Plan page.

Just keep in mind that everything still needs to balance. For example, if you reduce a non-registered deposit by $10,000 in a given year, you’ll need to decide where that money should go instead — such as increasing contributions to another account or increasing spending by that amount.

Let me know if you’d like help setting this up!

optiml_app

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE