ATRF – Alberta Teachers' Retirement Fund
Alberta
Full pension and early retirement
You get a full pension, with no reduction, at the first of these:
- Age 65
- 85 points
Points are your age plus your years of service.
- Earliest retirement
- Age 55
- Retiring earlier
- Reduced 2% a point short of 85 or 2% a year under 65, whichever is less, at most 20%
- Pension formula
- 1.4% of your average pay up to the CPP earnings limit (YMPE) and 2% above it, for each year of service
- Bridge benefit
- None
- Increases after you retire
- 70% of inflation
What retiring early costs: an example
Someone joins at 35, is paid $85,000 a year and works until each age below, so their years of service are their age less 35. Amounts are a year, before tax, in today's dollars.
| Retire at | Years of service | Reduction | Pension |
|---|---|---|---|
| 55 | 20 | 20% | $20,600 |
| 56 | 21 | 16% | $22,700 |
| 57 | 22 | 12% | $24,900 |
| 58 | 23 | 8% | $27,200 |
| 59 | 24 | 4% | $29,600 |
| 60 | 25 | None | $32,100 |
Retiring at 55 instead of 60 costs twice: 5 fewer years of service, and the reduction on what is left. Early retirement reduction explains both.
What to copy from your paperwork
To use your own numbers in the income timeline:
Your Plan Member Statement's 'Summary of benefits' gives a Gross Monthly Pension before Tax as if you left at the end of the school year, reduced if you are under 65 or short of the 85 index, so it isn't the pension earned so far. For the dates you choose, use MyPension, in your ATRF account, and enter its single life amounts. If it lets you add pay raises, leave them at 0%: this tool takes the amounts as today's dollars. Joint options pay less for life.
ATRF's own estimator: MyPension, in your ATRF account.
Where these rules come from
- Pension eligibility and formula · ATRF
- Cost-of-living adjustments · ATRF
- Last reviewed October 20, 2026.
These rules are simplified. Your plan's own estimate is the one to rely on; see the disclaimer.