Your pension letter has a deadline. Your plan shouldn't be a guess.
Workforce Adjustment, an early pension decision, a severance cheque — I build the year-by-year plan that tells you exactly what to do with it, and what waiting costs you. Every meeting is virtual, so it doesn't matter which department, which building, or which town you're logging in from.
Currently at capacity for new virtual assessments. See why, and how the waitlist works →
Why clients call first
Everything that decides whether the money lasts
- 01Exact transition dateMapped year by year, whether that's retirement, a new job, or a gap between the two.
- 02Pension modelled both waysMonthly annuity vs. commuted (transfer) value, run against your real numbers — not a rule of thumb.
- 03Severance & leave payouts structuredTimed and split to reduce the tax hit on a lump sum landing in one calendar year.
- 04RRSP, TFSA & account strategyA drawdown and contribution order built around your new income, not your old one.
- 05Ongoing check-insBuilt in while your new income finds its footing, so the plan adjusts as things settle.
Tailored to your letter, not a template
Federal pension options, severance structuring, and transition timelines vary by department, classification, and years of service. Nothing here is generic — the plan is built from your actual options letter and your actual numbers.
No pressure, no sales pitch. If you're already on solid footing, that's what I'll tell you.
Pick the door that fits where you are
Every path starts with a free conversation, walking through your situation and exactly how the fee works — before you commit to anything.
The WFA Transition Plan
A one-time plan for federal public servants recently affected by Workforce Adjustment, built around your options-letter deadline.
- Annuity vs. transfer value, modelled side by side
- Severance & lump sum tax plan
- Income bridge until your next paycheque
- Benefits & coverage gap review
The Retirement Plan
For anyone asking whether retirement actually works on what they've built — public servant or not.
- Year-by-year income picture
- Lower lifetime tax through draw order
- Stress-tested against a long life
Wealth Management
The plan built once, then kept current — with your investments managed alongside it, year after year.
- Your plan, reviewed annually
- Portfolio managed on your behalf
- One coordinated relationship
The options letter is the easy part to read. It's not the easy part to decide.
Most of what determines whether this transition goes well isn't on the letter at all — it's what you do in the ninety days after you get it.
Tax
Severance, unused leave, and any RRSP room used in the order that costs you the least.
Pension
Annuity vs. transfer value, modelled against your own numbers — not a rule of thumb from a forum.
Bridge
Income covered for the gap between your last public service paycheque and your next one.
Protection
Health, dental, and life coverage that ends with your employment, replaced before it lapses.
Behaviour
No rushed decisions made under a 90-day options-letter clock.
What's next
Whether that's another role, a business, consulting, or actually retiring.
What Workforce Adjustment actually means for your money
Workforce Adjustment (WFA) is the federal process that applies when a position is declared surplus. It comes with an options period, a set of choices around pension and severance, and a deadline — and most of those choices are one-way doors.
I'm based in Cornwall, in the middle of Eastern Ontario's federal public service community, and I built the WFA Transition Plan specifically for the decisions that show up in an options letter: whether to take the pension as a monthly annuity or a lump-sum transfer value, how to structure severance so it isn't taxed all at once, what happens to extended health and dental coverage, and how to bridge income until the next thing — whatever that is.
This isn't political commentary on the cuts. It's a plan for the decisions sitting in front of you right now.
Join the WFA waitlistQuestions the plan answers
A few of the ones that come up in almost every first conversation.
Annuity or transfer value — which one actually pays off?
It depends on your age, years of service, health, other assets, and what you plan to do next. We model both against your real numbers rather than a general rule.
Is my severance taxed all at once?
It can be, depending on how it's paid and whether any of it is eligible for RRSP sheltering. Timing and structure make a real difference here.
What happens to my health and dental coverage?
Coverage tied to active employment typically ends on a set date. We map the gap and what should replace it before it opens up.
How long do I have to decide?
Options periods are time-boxed and vary by situation. The sooner we look at your actual letter, the more room you have to decide instead of react.
Do I need to already have savings for this to help?
No. The first conversation is about your situation as it stands today — pension, savings, debts, and what's coming next.
Book a virtual assessment
All meetings are held by secure video call — from anywhere in Ontario.
Join the waitlist
Free to join. We'll reach out personally — no automated booking link, no spam.
Renée Fournier, Financial Planner
Renée started her career advising federal employees in Ottawa before moving her practice to Cornwall to work virtually with families and public servants across Eastern Ontario. Since the current round of federal Workforce Adjustment began, the WFA Transition Plan has become the core of her practice — built from real options letters, not general rules of thumb.
Financial Planner · Cornwall, Ontario
Join the WaitlistWhat it's like to work together
Sample notes — replace with real client reviews before publishing.
"I had ninety days to decide on my pension and no idea where to start. We ran the numbers both ways and the choice finally made sense."
— J.D., Cornwall"Everything was virtual, which mattered — I was still working full days right up until my last one."
— M.T., South Stormont"No pressure, no product pitch. Just a plan I could actually read and understand."
— R.L., AlexandriaYour options letter has a clock on it. Let's get ahead of it.
Join the waitlist for a free virtual conversation about your pension, severance, and what comes next. No pressure, no sales pitch.