Other Registered Accounts

Locked-in retirement account (LIRA)

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A Locked-In Retirement Account (LIRA) is a Canadian investment account designed specifically to hold locked-in pension funds for former plan members, former spouses or common-law partners, or surviving spouses or partners.

 
The funds deposited to a LIRA must come from the transfer of assets accumulated in a provincial retirement plan.

Anyone who leaves a place of employment after two years of participation in a pension plan can transfer his/her contributions to a LIRA.

You can open a LIRA up to December 31 of the year in which you turn 71. The LIRA must then be converted into a provincial LIF or life annuity. Since it is "locked in", you cannot withdraw from a LIRA.

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Locked-in RRSP account

The locked-in RRSP account is very similar to a LIRA except it is applicable for assets accumulated in a federal retirement plan.