I don’t have a pension, so how do I determine when I can retire?

Without a workplace pension to anchor things, deciding when you can afford to stop working can feel like guessing in the dark, and this piece offers a steadier starting point. The first task, it argues, is not picking a date but answering a harder question: how much is actually enough for the life you want. Once you have a clear sense of what your retirement will cost year to year, you can work backwards to see whether your savings, CPP and OAS can carry it, and for how long. The thinking is about replacing a vague hope with a real plan, modelling your spending honestly rather than reaching for a round number. It speaks to anyone outside the shrinking world of defined benefit pensions who is trying to figure out their own finish line and wants confidence rather than a gut feeling.