How much monthly income will my savings give?

Savings don't come with a monthly amount the way a pension does. What they pay each month depends on three things: how long they have to last, the return they earn and how fast prices rise.

How long they have to last

The longer your savings have to last, the less they can pay each month. Picking the age you want them to last until is the biggest choice you make here. Planning to a later age leaves you less each month, but less risk of running out.

An example

Someone has $300,000 saved at 65. It earns 4% a year, prices rise 2% a year, and each month's withdrawal rises with prices, so it buys the same amount every year.

Monthly income before tax, in today's dollars, by the age the savings last until.

Until 85, the savings pay about $1,500 a month.
Until 90, about $1,300 a month.
Until 95, about $1,100 a month.

These amounts are in today's dollars and before tax.

What else changes the amount

The return. A higher return pays more each month, but returns are not steady. A fall in the first years of retirement does more harm than the same fall later, because there is more money invested when it happens.
Inflation. If prices rise faster, the same savings buy less each year.
Leaving some unspent. Keeping an amount aside, for an emergency or to leave to someone, lowers what the rest can pay.

How tax applies

RRSP and RRIF withdrawals are taxed as income in the year you take them.
TFSA withdrawals are tax-free.
Savings outside a registered plan are taxed on their growth, not on the money you put in.

An RRSP has to become a RRIF, or buy an annuity, by the end of the year you turn 71. A RRIF has a minimum you must withdraw each year from the year after it starts. The income timeline doesn't apply these minimums, so check them if you plan to draw your RRIF slowly.

Savings and your other income

Savings are often what fills the gaps: the years before CPP and OAS start, or before a pension begins. Drawing more in those years and less later can give you steadier income overall. See Will I have enough to retire? for how to check each year.