How to Adapt Your Financial Planning for Retirement When you Arrive in Québec?
Good to know
To understand how the Québec retirement system works, consult one of the following pages, depending on where you are in your career:
Sources of income in retirement
In retirement, you can count on two sources of basic income:
- the Old Age Security pension from the Government of Canada;
- the retirement pension under the Québec Pension Plan.
You will be able to receive the Old Age Security pension as of age 65. Your pension amount will depend on the number of years during which you will have lived in Québec since your 18th birthday. To be entitled to this pension, you will need to have lived in Canada for at least 10 years since you turned 18 and to be a Canadian citizen or have an authorized resident status.
You will also be able to count on the retirement pension under the Québec Pension Plan. It is calculated based on the employment earnings on which you contributed to the Plan, that is, your earnings between $3500 and a maximum that changes every year. In 2026, the maximum is $85 000. The pension also varies based on the age at which you begin receiving it. If you start receiving it at age 65, you will receive 100% of your pension. After age 65, you will have a higher pension for life, and if you receive it between ages 60 and 65, your pension will be lower for life.
Foreign pension plan
Important question to ask yourself: have you ever participated in a pension plan abroad? If so, does the country concerned have a social security agreement with Québec? If that is the case, you could receive a pension or a retirement pension from that country. The amount to which you could be entitled depends on various factors, such as the contributions you paid to the plan and the type of plan. Every agreement is different, and each country is responsible for paying benefits under its plan.
Once you retire, you could receive a pension from Québec and a second one from a foreign country. The latter has no impact on the amount of the benefits under the Québec Pension Plan. It could therefore not decrease your retirement pension.
Retraite Québec's Bureau des ententes de sécurité sociale is responsible for implementing the agreements. It therefore provides assistance to persons living in Québec in their efforts to receive benefits from countries with which Québec has agreements.
Contact the Bureau to find out which benefits you could receive and what are the steps to take.
Example
Let's take the example of a person who leaves France to move to Québec. By working here, he or she will contribute to the Québec Pension Plan and could therefore receive a retirement pension under the Plan. He or she could also receive a retirement pension from France for the years during which he or she worked in that country. When he or she dies, his or her spouse could also receive survivors' benefits from both plans.
In any case, it is important to keep the information and documents regarding your contributions made to a foreign pension plan.
If the country in which you worked does not have an agreement with Québec, there is a good chance that it will be able to pay you a pension while you are here, but you will have to make arrangements with that country.
Building a credit report is important
To manage your finances, whether for retirement or other projects, it is important to build a credit report. A credit report is like a report card for your personal finances. It is a document that contains various information about your financial situation. It allows for your identification, to find out your debt level, and especially, to see whether you are repaying your debts on time. You are given a score based on your repayment habits. The higher your score, the better your credit report.
Your credit report can be consulted, with your consent, by any financial institution or business with which you apply for a loan, or by a landlord when you want to rent an apartment. You can also consult your credit report with the two major credit agencies in Canada:
Equifax 
and TransUnion .
How to build a good credit report
You must respect your contractual obligations, such as your cell phone plan, and payment deadlines. Avoid:
- making payments that are lower than the minimum required payment;
- exceeding your credit limit;
- making late payments;
- accruing balances on multiple credit cards.
The better your credit report, the better your chances of obtaining a loan when you want to buy a car or a house, for example.
If you would like to know how to organize your finances in Québec, consult the document entitled
L'essentiel des finances personnelles – Programme pour nouveaux arrivants au Québec (Personal Finance Essentials – Program for Newcomers in Québec; French only) on the Autorité des marchés financiers du Québec's website.