About the project
Practical planning tools. Visible assumptions. No black box.
OpenBook Planning is being developed as a simple, lightweight resource for learning about Canadian retirement, tax, and financial-planning concepts. The goal is not to produce opaque projections or overly complex modelling, but to make planning assumptions easier to understand through calculators and educational content that explain how the numbers are generated.
Approach
The site is built around the idea that financial planning should be understandable, transparent, and educational. Most projections are highly sensitive to assumptions such as inflation, investment returns, taxation, retirement age, withdrawal timing, and government benefits. Rather than treating a calculated result as a definitive answer, the objective is to help users understand which variables are driving the outcome and how changes in assumptions can materially affect a plan over time.
OpenBook Planning focuses primarily on practical Canadian planning topics, including retirement income, decumulation strategies, RRSPs, TFSAs, RRIFs, non-registered investing, CPP/QPP and OAS considerations, tax planning, and withdrawal sustainability. The calculators are designed as deterministic educational tools that allow users to explore “what-if” scenarios and better understand the mechanics behind common planning decisions.
The project is intentionally static, lightweight, and privacy-conscious in structure. Calculations are performed locally in the browser whenever possible, and the site does not aim to collect unnecessary financial or personal information. Simplicity, transparency, and explainability are prioritized over aggressive monetization, opaque modelling, or enterprise software complexity.
This site is not intended to replace professional financial, tax, legal, or investment advice, nor is it designed to function as comprehensive financial-planning software. Its purpose is educational: to help users approach planning conversations more thoughtfully, better understand common tradeoffs and limitations, and ask more informed questions before making financial decisions or consulting qualified professionals.
OpenBook Planning is actively developed and will continue evolving incrementally over time. Calculators, articles, assumptions, and methodologies may be refined as the project grows, with an ongoing emphasis on clarity, transparency, and practical Canadian financial education.
Future multilingual support is planned in order to make Canadian financial-planning concepts more accessible to a broader audience. English content remains the primary working version during active development, with French and Chinese versions expected to expand gradually over time.