Retirees: Supplement Your CPP Payments With These 2 Dividend Stocks

Many Canadians are relying on the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) to fund their retirement. But is the CPP enough? While the CRA will support you during retirement, that won’t be sufficient to maintain your current standard of living. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) also gives Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), but they have an income threshold.

Retirees: Here’s how much you could receive from the CRA

If you are 65 years old and your 2024 net world income was below $148,451, you could receive $1,588.46 a month in CPP and OAS in 2025. The average CPP payout is $848.37. However, if you maxed out on CPP contributions for 40 years, you could get a higher payout up to $1,433. The OAS for 2025 is $740.09/month.

Apart from these payouts, you may have your Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) and other savings. Instead of putting them in a term deposit that won’t give you more than 3.7%, consider investing in high-yield dividend stocks. They can give you double the interest that the bank gives and are relatively safer than growth stocks.

Two dividend stocks that can supplement your CPP

To supplement CPP, you need dividend stocks that increase their payouts annually with inflation and are reliable.

CT REIT (TSX: CRT.UN) and Telus Corporation (TSX: T) both have reliable and inflation-adjusted dividend payouts. They also offer a dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) to help you compound income during the years you don’t need a payout.

CT REIT

CT REIT’s reliability comes from the 90% rental income that it earns from its parent, Canadian Tire. Every year, the REIT develops, intensifies, or acquires a few properties and rents them out to Canadian Tire to increase income. Since it does not need to worry about occupancy and tenants’ creditworthiness, it has a cost advantage over other REITs. Its 75% payout ratio shows it has the flexibility to grow dividends even in a weak macro environment, making it ideal to supplement CPP.

Telus

Telus stock has made a new low of around $18 amidst market bearishness, which has inflated its yield to 9.1%. The major concern for Telus is its highly leveraged balance sheet. However, the company has been selling non-core assets to reduce debt and increase free cash flow. The efforts have helped it lower its net debt from 3.7 to 3.5 times its Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA).

In the meantime, Telus has been growing its revenue and free cash flow, reducing its dividend payout ratio to 75%. The management has already announced 4% dividend growth for January 2026, which shows it can supplement the CPP with inflation-adjusted dividend growth and stable payouts.

How much should you invest in these stocks to supplement CPP

CT REIT offers a monthly payout, while Telus offers a quarterly payout. Considering the average CPP of $848.37/month, the annual amount comes to $10,180.44. To earn an amount similar to CPP, you need to buy 4,000 shares of both CT REIT and Telus, which requires a cumulative investment of $138,320 at the current market price.

If you still have time to retire, consider investing the $138,000 in a span of four years, with annual investments of $34,580. This amount may fluctuate as the share price keeps changing. In these four years, you can opt for the DRIP option and compound the returns.