Time to Retire — UK Retirement Planner

🎛 Control Levers

💰 Net Income Targets (After Tax, Today's Money)
Retirement to Age 65£90,000
Age 65 to 70£85,000
Age 70 to 75£85,000
Age 75+£80,000
🗓️ Retirement and Death Ages
Husband Retires Age 58
Wife Retires Age 60
Husband Death Age Age 90
Wife Death Age Age 92
📈 Growth & Inflation Rates (Nominal)
Inflation Rate3.0%
Investment Risk Profiles
DC Growth Pot Return4.5%
DC Defensive Pot Growth3.5%
Stocks & Shares ISA Growth4.5%
Cash ISA Growth3.0%
Cash Interest Rate2.5%
House Price Growth3.0%
🛡️ Downturn Protection
Cash & ISA Reserve (Years of Cash & ISA kept in reserve) 1 yr
DC Defensive Buffer (Years the Defensive Pot is topped up to) 3 yrs
You've set 1 yr Cash & ISA + 3 yrs DC Defensive = 4 yrs target protection before the Growth Pot would need to be touched in a downturn.
🎁 Gifting Matrix
Total Annual Gift to Children£0
Husband Age to Start67
💾 Scenarios ⓘ
①
②
③
④
TimeToRetire.co.uk

Time to Retire

Find out exactly when you can afford to stop working.
Proper retirement planning — built for real people, not advisers.

How to use this model

⚙️
Step 1
Enter your assumptions
Names, ages, retirement dates, pension values, income targets and any care or gifting plans. All inputs are on the Inputs page.
Open Inputs page →
Start here
📊
Step 2
Explore the projections
Click any button in the navigation bar at the top of each page to jump straight to that section. Use the left-panel sliders to stress-test returns and inflation — all charts update instantly.
ℹ️

Not financial advice

Time to Retire is a planning and modelling tool — it helps you understand your financial position and explore retirement scenarios. It does not constitute regulated financial advice under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and is not authorised or regulated by the FCA. All projections are illustrative, based on your own inputs, and do not account for all tax changes or personal circumstances. For advice specific to your situation, please consult a qualified independent financial adviser.

© 2026 TimeToRetire.co.uk · Not regulated financial advice
💾 Auto-saving to this browser
✓ Saved
Quick Summary of Assets & Income — from inputs below
DC Pensions Cash & ISA Total DC & Cash Business Property DB & State Pension / yr
Husband £0 £0 £0 £0 — £29,500
Wife £0 £0 £0 — — £18,500
Total £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £48,000
👤 Household Type
Two people, full spousal IHT exemption, combined NRB/RNRB on 2nd death
👤
Client Profile & Planning Horizons→ timeline, income phases, survivorship
AssumptionHusbandWifeJoint/Notes
First Name
Used in chart headers
—
Current Age ●
Drives the entire projection horizon
—
Retirement Age ●
Age drawdown begins; triggers income phase bands
—
Planning Horizon (Death Age) ●
Runs the plan through to the last survivor
34 yrs
Number of Children / Beneficiaries ●
Used to calculate per-child inheritance on the Gifting & IHT page · does not affect IHT calculation
🏭
State Pension→ guaranteed income, taxable income base
AssumptionHusbandWifeCombined
State Pension Age ●
Default 67 — rising to 68 by 2044. Update here if different; confirm NI record
Feeds income floor
Annual State Pension (today's £) ●
Full new state pension 2026/27 = £12,548 (£241.30/wk); verify NI record per person
£25,000
📈
Defined Contribution / SIPP Pension Pots→ asset stack, drawdown hierarchy, Monte Carlo, IHT post-2027
AssumptionHusbandWifeTotal
Current Total DC / SIPP Pots Value (£) ●
Total pension pot value — enter the full amount here regardless of how it is invested
£0
Defensive Pot (£)
Future Pre-Retirement DC Contributions per Year (today's £) ●
Total employer + employee contributions per person until retirement · added to Growth Pot · stops at retirement
Pre-retirement only
Total DC / SIPP
£1,481,000
£360,000
£1,841,000
🏛
Defined Benefit Pensions (Final Salary Scheme)→ guaranteed income floor, survivor base, LSA calculation
AssumptionHusbandWifeCombined
Annual DB Pension (today's £) ●
Post-commutation gross amount; model inflates to nominal
£23,000
DB Tax-Free Lump Sum (£) ●
TFLS taken at DB commencement; counts against £268,275 LSA cap per person
£0
DB Payment Start Age ●
Age at which annual DB income and TFLS commence
—
Survivor Benefit (%)
% of member's DB pension paid to surviving spouse on death
—
Escalation Type
Annual increase applied to DB; affects real value over time. RPI-linked schemes use the same options as CPI-linked below — this model doesn't distinguish RPI from CPI as separate rates, both are driven by the one inflation assumption
—
💰
ISA Savings→ drawdown hierarchy, asset stack, ISA annual limit
AssumptionHusbandWifeTotal
Current Cash ISA (£) ●
Tax-free cash wrapper — same drawdown priority as Stocks & Shares ISA, combined as one pool for drawdown and charts
£0
Current Stocks & Shares ISA (£) ●
Tax-free investment wrapper; drawn before DC pensions by default — see the IHT-Aware Drawdown Order section below to reverse this
£0
Total ISA (Cash + Stocks & Shares)
£0
£0
£0
Future Cash ISA Contributions per yr from cash savings ●
Moves money from cash savings into tax free ISA wrapper & grows tax free
From 6 Apr 2027, capped at £12k/yr for under-65s — full £20k continues for 65+. Before that date, capped only by the £20k combined limit below.
Same window for both rows below
From yr (age 57/61)
For yrs (ongoing)
Future Stocks & Shares ISA Contributions per yr from cash savings ●
Moves money from cash savings into tax free Stocks & Shares ISA wrapper & grows tax free · combined with Cash ISA contribution above, capped at £20k/person/yr total
💵
Cash & Cash Equivalents→ drawdown hierarchy, PSA calculation, IHT estate
AssumptionHusbandWifeTotal
Current Cash Savings (£) ●
Bank accounts, money market — earns PSA-assessed interest
£0
Future Pre-Retirement Cash Savings per Year (today's £) ●
Additional cash you expect to save each year before retiring — added to your cash savings pot · stops at retirement
From yr
For yrs
Premium Bonds (£) ●
Tax-free prize fund — max £50,000 per person · prizes exempt from income tax, not subject to PSA
Prize rate below defaults to 3.8% (NS&I stated rate) — most holders see 3.0–3.3% in practice; reduce if being conservative
£0
Premium Bond Prize Rate (%) ●
Applied to total premium bond holdings · tax-free (no PSA impact)
3.8%
🏠
Property→ IHT estate, RNRB eligibility
AssumptionHusbandWifeJoint / Total
Value of House / Property (£) ●
Today's estimate; qualifies for RNRB (combined £350k) if passed to direct descendants
Outstanding Mortgage (£)
Reduces net estate for IHT; enter 0 if mortgage-free
Mortgage — Years Remaining ●
If you're actively repaying it, enter how many years are left and the balance above will taper to £0 on schedule instead of sitting there for the whole plan. Leave blank/0 for interest-only, or if you'd rather just update the balance above yourself as it falls.
Property Ownership Split (%) ●
Married/Civil Partnership & Single: defaults to fully shared — ownership split doesn't affect the IHT calculation
N/A
N/A
100%
🎉
Lifestyle Income Targets (Net, Today's £)→ drawdown engine, net income vs target chart
Phase Boundaries — drag the handles to adjust when each phase starts
Phase & Age RangeAnnual Net Target (Today's £)
Phase 1 — Active Retirement ●
Retirement to age 65
Husband: 58–64  ·  Wife: 62–64
Phase 2 — Early Retirement ●
Age 65–70
Husband: 65–69  ·  Wife: 65–69
Phase 3 — Mid Retirement ●
Age 70–75
Husband: 70–74  ·  Wife: 70–74
Phase 4 — Late Retirement ●
Age 75+
Husband: 75+  ·  Wife: 75+
Income Needed After First Death (%) ●
When one of you dies, the survivor typically needs less than the full couple’s target. Set what % of the current phase target continues from then on.
e.g. £85k → £63,750
💥
One-Off Incomes & Costs→ applied once, at Person 1's age specified · drawdown engine, IHT estate
Add up to 4 one-off incomes and 4 one-off costs — e.g. an inheritance, a house downsize surplus, a big car purchase, or a wedding gift. Each is applied once, in the year Person 1 reaches the age specified. Incomes default to landing in cash (an assumption you can override); costs default to coming from cash first.
TypeDescriptionPerson 1 AgeAmount (Today's £)Pool
Costs draw from the pool selected; if that pool can't cover it alone, the shortfall overflows through the same hierarchy used for lifestyle spending (cash → ISA → DC). Any amount left at death is included in the IHT estate, same as the rest of that pool.
✨
Optional Inputs — complete only if relevant
These sections are not required for the core projection to run. Add detail here if care costs or property drawdown are relevant to the plan.

Combined — Assets by Type (£ Today's Money)

Combined — Gross Income by Source (£ Today's Money)

Combined — Total Income Tax Paid by Band

Combined — Net Income vs Target (£ Today's Money)

Portfolio Stress Test — Monte Carlo Simulation (100 Paths)

Click tab to compute

Husband — Assets by Type (£ Today's Money)

Husband — Gross Income by Source (£ Today's Money)

Husband — Income Tax Paid by Band

Husband — Net Income Received (£ Today's Money)

Wife — Assets by Type (£ Today's Money)

Wife — Gross Income by Source (£ Today's Money)

Wife — Income Tax Paid by Band

Wife — Net Income Received (£ Today's Money)

Total Liquid Portfolio (Excl. Property) — All Scenarios (Today's Money)
ⓘ Scenario likelihood and plan success figures are indicative estimates based on historical data. For illustration only — not a guarantee of future outcomes.

🔀 Scenario Comparison · all values today's money

Load a saved scenario into A or B independently, or save the current one ⓘ
Assumption A Scenario A B Scenario B
DC Long Return
4.5%
4.5%
Inflation
3.0%
3.0%
Husband Retirement Age
58
60
Wife Retirement Age
60
62
Death Age (both)
92
92
Net Income Target
£90k
£80k
Liquidity Floor (yrs)
On top of ~3 yrs already held in DC Defensive Pot
1 yr
1 yr
Annual Gift
£0k
£0k
IHT-Aware Drawdown Order?
DC before ISA/cash, for high-value estates — see Page 1 for who this suits

Total Liquid Portfolio (Excl. Property, Today's £)

Gross Income by Source (Today's £)

Total Income Tax Paid (Today's £)

Net Income vs Target (Today's £)

🏛️ Estate & IHT Impact at 2nd Death · today's money

Loading inheritance summary…

📋 Model Assumptions & Methodology

All key assumptions, calculation rules and simplifications used in this cashflow model

🔄 Annual Assumptions Review
This model can't fetch live data from inside the browser — there's no reliable, structured source for current tax rules or annuity rates it could safely pull from automatically. What it can do is show you everything that's hardcoded, so once a year you can bring this list to whoever maintains the model and have each item checked and updated.
🎯 Lump Sum Allowance (LSA) — £268,275 per person Auto-calculated from DB inputs

The LSA caps the total tax-free lump sum any individual can receive from all pension sources in their lifetime. DB tax-free lump sums (entered on Page 1) are deducted first; the remainder is available for DC PCLS. This is a calculation output — there are no inputs to set here.

Husband
LSA Cap£268,275
Less DB TFLS used– £0
Remaining for DC PCLS (day 1)£268,275
Projected DC PCLS used over whole plan£0
Utilisation (projected, end of plan)
Wife
LSA Cap£268,275
Less DB TFLS used– £0
Remaining for DC PCLS (day 1)£268,275
Projected DC PCLS used over whole plan£0
Utilisation (projected, end of plan)
🏛️ IHT Settings — Finance Act 2024
Undrawn DC pensions included in IHT estate
Under Finance Act 2024, undrawn DC pension pots will form part of the taxable estate from April 2027. This model applies the post-2027 rules as the default planning position.
✓ Always on (post-2027)
📋 What is (and isn't) taxable — at a glance
ISA — no income tax on inheritance
ISA assets pass free of income tax regardless of the beneficiary's tax band. IHT applies in the normal way (above NRB/RNRB). From 6 April 2027 ISAs are included in the IHT estate.
Cash savings — no income tax
Capital transfers are not income. Cash passes to beneficiaries free of income tax; only IHT applies above the nil-rate bands.
Property — no income tax; RNRB may apply
The main residence qualifies for the Residence NRB (£175k each / £350k combined) when passed to direct descendants, reducing IHT. Capital gains from date of death are also wiped on uplift.
DC pension — ⚠️ double tax hit (post-2027)
Under Finance Act 2024 (from April 2027) undrawn DC pots form part of the IHT estate at 40%. The remainder is then subject to income tax when beneficiaries draw it, using full UK band stacking on top of their existing income — not a fixed rate. A faster lump-sum withdrawal pushes more into higher bands; a phased drawdown over several years keeps more in lower bands and reduces the effective rate.
ℹ️ All figures in today's money · central case only · gifting strategy applied · NRB £325k + RNRB £175k each assumed. Pension income tax rates are illustrative — actual rates depend on each beneficiary's total income in the year of drawdown.
📐 Return & Growth Assumptions

All portfolio growth is modelled in real (inflation-adjusted) terms so balances are directly comparable across time. Important: the model tracks pools internally in nominal £ (needed for correct UK tax-band calculations) and deflates back to today's money for display — it does not separately compound inflation on top of the growth rate sliders. This means each slider must be entered as a nominal rate. The defaults below reflect a deliberately cautious default posture chosen for this tool.

DC Growth Pot return Default 4.5% nominal p.a. → ≈1.5% realConfigurable
Deliberately cautious default — below the long-run historical range supported by the Barclays Equity Gilt Study (UK equities ~5% real) and global equity estimates, reflecting a conservative house view rather than the historical average
DC Defensive Pot return Default 3.5% nominal p.a. → ≈0.5% realConfigurable
Within the range supported by Barclays long-run UK gilt/cash real returns (~0.6%–1.4%)
Stocks & Shares ISA return Default 4.5% nominal p.a. → ≈1.5% realConfigurable
Deliberately cautious for a blended equity/bond ISA — below the Barclays 50/50 equity/gilt blend long-run average (~3.1% real), reflecting a conservative house view
Cash ISA return Default 3.0% nominal p.a. → ≈0.0% realConfigurable
Broadly tracking inflation — compare against current best-buy cash ISA rates
Cash return Default 2.5% nominal p.a. → ≈-0.5% realConfigurable
Close to Barclays' 124-year UK cash real return (~0.6%), slightly below given current savings rates
Property growth Default 3.0% nominal p.a.Configurable
Conservative default — house prices tracking general inflation; adjust on Page 1 if a real uplift (or decline) is expected
All returns are in real terms Yes — today's money throughout, for every output
The growth rate sliders themselves are the exception: they take a nominal input, which the model deflates internally — see the Return & Growth Assumptions above for each default's real-terms equivalent

Investment Risk Profile buttons (Conservative/Balanced/Aggressive) set DC Growth Pot, DC Defensive Pot and Stocks & Shares ISA together — Conservative matches the defaults above (4.5% / 3.5% / 4.5%), Balanced steps up to 6.0% / 4.0% / 6.0%, Aggressive to 8.0% / 4.5% / 8.0%. All kept in nominal terms, matching the sliders themselves, rather than converted from a real-return target, to avoid mixing nominal and real figures on the same control. Cash, Cash ISA, Inflation and House Price Growth are untouched by these buttons — none of them are a risk-appetite choice the way equity exposure is.

💰 Pension Drawdown Optimiser

The engine tests every possible husband/wife DC drawdown split each year and selects the most tax-efficient combination.

DC drawdown split 101-step optimizer per year
Tests every 1% H/W split from 0% to 100%
Optimisation criterion 1 Maximise combined net income
Primary goal — meet income target
Optimisation criterion 2 Minimise combined income tax
Tiebreaker when income target met
Optimisation criterion 3 Pot-proportional draw
Final tiebreaker to balance depletion
PCLS (tax-free cash) 25% of crystallised pot
Up to LSA cap of £268,275 (or up to full pot). Each regular ad-hoc withdrawal is blended 25% tax-free / 75% taxable in this way — the mechanism providers call UFPLS (Uncrystallised Funds Pension Lump Sum) — rather than a single upfront crystallisation event.
LSA cap £268,275 per person (Lump Sum Allowance)
Replaced the old £1,073,100 Lifetime Allowance, abolished April 2024. DB TFLS is deducted first; the remainder is available for DC PCLS — see LSA Summary above.
DC drawdown taxation Taxable income at marginal rate
Added to DB, SP and other income before tax
Band-fill acceleration 3-year look-ahead, routes to ISAConfigurable
Fills basic-rate band in early years; surplus to ISA
Taxable investment accounts (GIA) — not modelled General Investment Accounts (stocks/funds held outside an ISA or pension) are not included as a separate asset class
GIAs involve dividend tax (above the £500 allowance, at 8.75% / 33.75% / 39.35% depending on rate band) and capital gains tax (above the £3,000 annual exempt amount, at 18% / 24%) — the split between income return and capital growth materially affects the tax calculation, making it significantly more complex to model accurately than ISA or pension assets. Until this is built, the best practical workaround is to include GIA assets in one of the existing categories based on how they're most likely to be used: if the intention is to eventually shelter them in an ISA (via the annual £20k contribution limit), include them in Cash Savings and set the Future S&S ISA Contributions field to reflect the planned annual transfers. If they will simply be drawn down directly in retirement, include them in Cash Savings as an approximation — this overstates tax slightly (cash interest is taxed via the PSA; GIA gains and dividends carry different rates) but keeps the asset in the plan rather than ignoring it entirely. Note the limitation to any reader of the output.
💰 Pension Crystallisation

Models a one-off decision to crystallise part of the DC pot — tax-free cash now, taxable remainder drawn down gradually afterwards. This is the industry's flexi-access drawdown (FAD) route to PCLS, and combining it with the regular UFPLS-style drawdown above (e.g. crystallise a slice now for a specific purpose, continue blended withdrawals from the rest) is what advisers typically mean by a hybrid tax-free cash strategy — both draw on the same shared £268,275 LSA, so the model tracks usage correctly across both.

Tax-free cash taken 25% of the crystallised amountConfigurable
Capped by remaining LSA and pot size, same logic as the regular drawdown's PCLS
Crystallised pot drawdown Drawn before the regular pot, 100% taxable
No further tax-free entitlement on it, so there's no benefit to leaving it untouched — the regular pot is left alone for as long as possible instead
Growth & pot order Same rate as the DC Growth Pot
Funded from Growth Pot first, then Defensive Pot, when the event fires
Events per person One onlyConfigurable, off by default
Age and amount set on Page 1; amount of 0 skips entirely
IHT treatment Counts the same as the regular DC pot
Crystallisation status makes no difference post-2027 — both included identically in the estate
🏛️ Pension to Annuity Conversion

Models a one-off decision to convert part of the DC pot into a guaranteed lifetime income, becoming DB-style income from the chosen age.

Tax-free cash first Default Yes — 25% cash, 75% buys the annuityConfigurable
The standard market approach; can be switched off to annuitise the full amount for a higher but fully taxable income
Indicative rate table ⚠️ Example only Age-interpolated, level single-life baseEditable
4.3% at 55 rising to 15.0% at 85, reflecting broad UK market levels as of June 2026 — not a quote. Always get personalised advice and compare actual provider rates before purchasing.
Rate adjustments Survivor % and escalation reduce the base rate
Up to −15% at 100% survivor continuation; escalation multipliers ≈ ×0.625 (RPI/CPI-linked), ×0.70–0.75 (CPI capped 5%/2.5%), ×0.72 (fixed 3%) relative to a level annuity
Survivor continuation Chosen % continues to the survivor from first deathConfigurable, default 50%
A directly-nominated joint life, unlike DB occupational schemes — applies regardless of household type, including Unmarried Couple
Events per person One onlyConfigurable, off by default
Already-purchased annuities should be entered as DB income instead — this section is for modelling a future decision
IHT treatment ⚠️ Leaves the estate entirely once purchased
The key difference from crystallising — converted into a right to income, not a transferable asset, so it's excluded from the IHT calculation either way, confirmed against the April 2027 rules
🏦 DB & State Pension

Defined benefit income is treated as guaranteed and does not deplete with market returns.

DB escalation types CPI uncapped, CPI capped 2.5% or 5%, Fixed 3%, NilConfigurable
DB escalation base Measured from pension commencement date
Not from model year 0
DB survivor pension Default 50% of member pensionConfigurable
Paid to surviving spouse on first death
DB tax-free lump sum Tracked against £268,275 LSA per person
State pension £12,548/yr per person from age 67Configurable
Currently the full new state pension rate (2026/27: £241.30/wk)
State pension escalation Assumed to track CPI (not triple lock)
Conservative assumption for long-run modelling
🪣 Bucket Strategy & Drawdown Hierarchy

The three-pot model separates short, medium and long-term money to manage sequence-of-returns risk.

Cash & Premium Bonds Short-term spending reserve (0–3 yrs)
Premium Bonds drawn first (tax-free), then cash savings. Both drawn before ISA and pensions in default drawdown order.
DC Defensive Pot Medium-term bridge (1–5 yrs)
Refilled from Growth Pot; used after cash
DC Growth Pot Long-term growth equity
Refills Defensive Pot; subject to investment returns
Business / Other Assets Illiquid until sale age — held as estate asset until then
Entered as net value after CGT/BADR. Grows at a user-set rate. On reaching the sale age, full proceeds convert to the cash pool in one year. Included in the IHT estate until sold. Does not participate in the drawdown hierarchy — it is a passive asset until the sale event triggers.
Premium Bonds Treated as liquid cash equivalent — tax-free prize income
Grows at the user-set prize rate (default 3.8% — NS&I stated rate; most holders see 3.0–3.3% effective). Drawn before cash savings in the drawdown hierarchy since prize income is fully tax-free and not subject to PSA. Included in IHT estate. Max £50,000 per person.
Future pre-retirement savings Three separate annual contribution streams before retirement
Future DC Contributions per year added to the DC Growth Pot · Future Cash Savings per year added to the cash pool · Future ISA Contributions (Cash and S&S separately) moved from cash savings into the respective ISA wrapper. All stop at each person's retirement age. All accept a From/For window to model contributions that start or stop mid-plan.
Drawdown order Depends on the IHT-Aware Drawdown Order toggle (Page 1)Configurable
Toggle off (default): Premium Bonds → Cash → ISA → DC (Defensive → Growth, optimised). DB/State Pension funds the target first; any remaining gap is met from Premium Bonds (tax-free), then cash savings, then ISA, then the DC optimiser as a last resort — preserving ISA/pension as a protected reserve where possible.
Toggle on: DC (Defensive → Growth, optimised) → Cash → ISA. DB/State Pension funds the target first; any remaining gap is met by the DC optimiser, then cash, then ISA as a last resort — preserving cash/ISA for beneficiaries instead, since unused pensions join the IHT estate from April 2027. Suits larger estates with pension wealth surplus to lifetime needs; see Page 1's toggle for who this fits. Wherever the model displays the drawdown order for a specific calculation (e.g. Page 8's reasoning panel), it always reflects whichever of these two is actually selected, not a fixed default.
Downturn Protection Two combined sliders — Cash & ISA years (default 1) + DC Defensive buffer years (default 3)Configurable
Both are genuinely forward-looking, not a flat multiple of one year's figure: each look-ahead year's real need (income target with phase step-downs, plus any care costs or one-off costs landing in that specific year) is summed to build the Cash & ISA reserve target — so a known care-cost or one-off-cost year within the window correctly builds extra reserve ahead of it. The DC Defensive Pot buffer (previously a fixed 3 years, now the second slider here) works the same way, sized in years of drawdown. Both deliberately exclude gifting (discretionary, not a must-cover need) and the survivor income step-down — the reserve stays at the full pre-death level, since you don't know in advance how long the survivor will live. If Cash & ISA combined fall short of the target, the model simply treats whatever they do hold as fully protected and draws the remainder from the pension instead — it never tries to "force" a floor that isn't actually there. The Inputs page shows both the target years and how many years your current Cash & ISA balance genuinely covers today, so a shortfall between the two is visible rather than silent.

What a "year" is worth on each slider — and why they differ. Each slider now also displays the approximate £ its setting implies, measured at the first year of retirement. The two are measured against different bases and are not interchangeable: the Cash & ISA Reserve is sized against total household spending need, while the DC Defensive Buffer is sized against the DC draw only — that is, the need remaining after DB and State Pension. On a plan with substantial guaranteed income the same number of years therefore implies a noticeably smaller £ figure on the Defensive Buffer than on the Cash Reserve. Showing both makes that visible rather than leaving it to be inferred.

Setting the Defensive Buffer in £. The Defensive Buffer can be switched to accept a direct £ amount instead of years, which is converted back to the equivalent (and now fractional) number of years the engine uses — so the underlying calculation is unchanged. This suits anyone holding a specific defensive allocation, such as a bond or gilt ladder of known size, who thinks in pounds rather than in multiples of a draw. Note that a ladder whose rungs are individually sized to each year's own (typically shrinking) net need will cover more calendar years than the £-to-years conversion implies, since that conversion divides by the first retirement year's draw, which is usually the largest. The model's figure is the conservative one.
Growth → Defensive refill Years set by the DC Defensive Buffer slider (default 3) — applies both before and during retirement
More than a fixed number of years further out than retirement (beyond the DC Defensive Buffer window), no buffer is held at all — there's nothing yet to protect against a downturn for, so the full pot stays in the higher-growth Growth Pot. Once within that many years of retirement, the Defensive Pot starts pre-building toward an estimate of the real net income need (target income, net of anticipated DB/State Pension) for the first N years of retirement — split between each person's own pot by current size — so a market crash landing exactly at the retirement date doesn't force selling Growth Pot assets immediately. Once retirement and real drawdown begin, it switches to refilling annually based on the actual draw (N × that year's draw). Models a real pre-retirement de-risking glide path combined with an ongoing rebalancing programme.
ISA draws Pro-rata by opening H/W balance
Tax-irrelevant — ISA income always tax-free
📊 Income Tax & Allowances

Tax is calculated individually for each spouse. The DC optimiser uses per-person marginal rates to find the optimal pension split.

Personal Allowance £12,570
Frozen for 5 years (fiscal drag), then CPI-indexed
Basic rate band £0–£37,700 above PA → 20%
Higher rate threshold £50,270 gross → 40%
Frozen 5 yrs then CPI-indexed
PA taper £1 PA lost per £2 over £100k
60% effective rate from £100k–£125,140
Additional rate Over £125,140 → 45%
Personal Savings Allowance £1,000 basic rate; £500 higher; £0 add. rate
Applied per person annually
Savings income rate rise From April 2027 Cash interest taxed at 22%/42%/47% from year 2 of the plan onward
Confirmed in the Autumn Budget 2025 — a +2 point rise on savings income specifically (pension/earned income rates are unaffected). The plan starts within the 2026/27 tax year, so today's 20%/40%/45% rates still apply to year 1; the higher rates apply from year 2 onward.
PSA optimisation Cash interest attributed to lower-rate spouse first
Runs before DC optimiser — improves marginal rates
ISA income Always tax-free, no impact on PA or bands
Cash capital drawdown Not taxable income
Only interest is taxable via PSA
Fiscal drag freeze Years 1–5 frozen; CPI-indexed thereafter
🏠 ISA, Cash & Property

ISA and cash capital drawdowns have no direct tax cost. Only the interest earned on cash is taxable income.

ISA annual contribution limit £20,000 per person (£40,000 combined)Configurable
Shared by two sources: (1) the explicit annual ISA contribution slider (start year/duration, Page 1), and (2) surplus DB/State income above the lifestyle target. The surplus-routing allowance is reduced by whatever the explicit contribution has already used that year, so the two mechanisms never double up against the same £40k cap.
ISA withdrawals Tax-free regardless of holder
No tax return impact
Cash interest Taxable, subject to PSA
Attributed to lower-rate spouse first (PSA optimised)
Cash capital drawdown Not taxable
Capital withdrawal has no income tax consequence
Cash ownership split Starts from opening balances (50/50 if both start at £0), then updates as money enters
DB tax-free lump sums, pension crystallisation cash, and annuity-purchase cash are credited 100% to whoever it actually belongs to. Other joint inflows (interest, surplus income) are split by the resulting running ratio, not the frozen day-1 one.
Property Grows at assumed rate; not drawn downConfigurable rate
Treated as illiquid capital; protected via IIP for care
Property in IHT estate Mortgage deducted from gross valueConfigurable
Net property value used for IHT calculation
Mortgage repayment Straight-line to £0 over the years you specifyConfigurable
Affects net worth and IHT figures only — not treated as a deduction from net income. Continued repayment is assumed to be funded from your target income, not in addition to it.
🔓 Equity Release & Property Drawdown

Models releasing capital from the property, separate from regular drawdown, with interest rolling up against the property's value.

Modes None / Lump sum at a chosen age / Annual drawdownConfigurable, off by default
Interest roll-up rate Default 5.5% per yearConfigurable
Compounds against the outstanding debt — not paid off during the plan, unlike a conventional mortgage
Cash released Tax-free, added directly to the cash pool
Not income — no income tax consequence
Property & IHT Outstanding equity release debt deducted from net property value
Same net-of-debt treatment as a conventional mortgage in the IHT calculation
🎁 Inheritance Tax & Gifting

The IHT engine models cumulative gifting with annual exemption, 7-year PET taper, the RNRB taper for larger estates, gifting affordability against lifestyle/care needs, and UK band-stacked income tax on inherited pensions.

Nil Rate Band (NRB) £325,000 per person (£650,000 combined)
Fully transferable between spouses · scales with inflation each year (frozen to April 2031, then CPI-linked, per current legislation)
Residence NRB (RNRB) £175,000 per person (£350,000 combined)
Tapers at £1 per £2 of estate above £2M (also inflation-scaled); taper applies to the estate plus any gifts still within 7 years of death
IHT rate 40% on estate above combined thresholds
Annual gift exemption £6,000 combined (£3,000 per person)
Immediately exempt every year, regardless of the 7-year rule; not CPI-linked (fixed since 1981)
Gift taper relief 7-year PET taper on gifts still within 7 yrs of death
Taper relief by year band: 0–3 yrs 40% · 3–4 yrs 32% · 4–5 yrs 24% · 5–6 yrs 16% · 6–7 yrs 8% · 7+ yrs 0% (fully exempt). Gifts older than 7 years are never added back to the estate.
Gifting period Configurable Start age and amount set via sliders; end age defaults to the 2nd death (later of the two spouses)
End age can be brought forward on the IHT page (e.g. to stop before the 7-year taper window) but is hard-capped at 2nd death — gifting can never continue beyond that point
Gifting affordability Lifestyle and care spending take priority over gifting
If the portfolio can't fund everything in a given year, the gift is reduced or skipped first; only the amount actually paid out counts towards the gifting total and the 7-year PET history
Pension pots post-2027 Always included in IHT estateAlways on
Finance Act 2024 — undrawn DC pots form part of the taxable estate from April 2027. Applied as default planning position.
Inherited pension income tax Configurable Full UK band stacking on a phased drawdown — not a flat rate on a lump sum
Each beneficiary's share is drawn evenly over a chosen number of years (1–20, default 1, set via the IHT page slider) and taxed by stacking each year's withdrawal on top of an assumed existing income (£30k/£75k/£150k for the basic/higher/additional-rate scenarios) using 2026/27 bands: Personal Allowance £12,570, basic rate to £50,270, higher rate to £125,140, additional rate above. Longer drawdown periods spread withdrawals across more years and lower bands, reducing the effective tax rate.
Unmarried Couple — first death Unmarried Couple only A real, separate IHT event — no spousal exemption applies
Whichever partner's age first exceeds their own death age, the model calculates IHT on THEIR OWN estate share alone: their own DC pot in full, plus their ownership share of the combined cash/ISA/property pools (set via the Property Ownership Split input, also used for cash/ISA via the existing ownership inputs). Taxed using their own individual £325k NRB / £175k RNRB — no transfer to the survivor, since they aren't married. Tax is paid from the shared liquid pools (cash, then ISA); the deceased's own DC pot is then either passed to the survivor net of tax (as cash — note this means any inherited ISA share loses its tax-free wrapper, unlike for a married couple) or excluded entirely, per the "Estate Passes To Survivor?" toggle on Page 1. From that point, the simulation continues with only the survivor's remaining assets and income. At the survivor's own eventual death, IHT is calculated again — also using individual allowances, since by then it's simply their own estate.
Unmarried Couple — gifting Unmarried Couple only Two independent gift streams, each with its own £3k exemption
Each partner has their own annual gift amount and own start age (on their own age scale), rather than one shared amount. Each partner's contribution automatically stops at their own death, regardless of where the shared stop-age slider is set. Each partner's gifts are tracked against their own 7-year PET history and their own £3k annual exemption (not the £6k combined figure used for married couples), feeding into their own first-death IHT calculation above.
Unmarried Couple — same-year deaths Edge case Falls back to a single combined calculation
If both partners' deaths fall within the same modelled year, the model has no meaningful way to sequence them at this yearly resolution — the first-death mechanism above doesn't fire, and the estate is taxed once as a whole, still using individual (not married-combined) allowances.
Care protection Care Protective IIP on property
Property excluded from means test via IIP structure
🎲 Monte Carlo & Scenario Modelling

Scenario terminal values use the ratio of each scenario's portfolio to the central case, applied to each return/inflation cell in the sensitivity table.

Monte Carlo runs 100 stochastic simulations
Run lazily — only when Combined Analysis page is active
Return distribution Log-normal with fixed volatility per asset class
DC Long σ ≈ 13%; DC Short σ ≈ 4.5%; ISA σ ≈ 7.5%; Cash σ ≈ 1.2%
Scenario: Optimistic Portfolio × 1.018ⁱ per year
+1.8% above base return, compounding
Scenario: Central Case Base return assumptions unchanged
Matches current slider values
Scenario: Cautious Portfolio × 0.985ⁱ per year
−1.5% below base, compounding
Scenario: Crash at Retirement −30% over 2 years at retirement; 5-yr recovery
GFC-style sequence-of-returns risk
Scenario: Crash Early Retirement −25% over 4 years early in retirement
Scenario: Crash Mid-Retirement −25% over 4 years mid-retirement
Scenario: Extended Bear −1.5%/yr for 10 years then normalise
Prolonged underperformance
⚠️ Key Simplifications & Limitations

This model is a planning tool. It simplifies many real-world complexities. Always validate key assumptions with the client and their adviser.

All values in today's money Yes — nominal values used only for tax band calculations
No NIC after pension age Correct — NIC does not apply beyond State Pension age
Care costs Modelled as an additional annual outflow per spouseConfigurable, off by default
Toggle, cost (default £60k/yr) and duration (default 3 yrs) set on Page 1. Start age defaults to the last N years before death unless overridden. Funded from the same drawdown hierarchy as lifestyle spending, and protected ahead of gifting if the portfolio runs short.
State Pension triple lock Not modelled — CPI escalation assumed instead
Conservative long-run assumption
Future legislation changes Not modelled beyond known frozen thresholds
Tax law changes post-modelling date are excluded
ISA/Cash capital ownership Fixed by opening balance ratio throughout plan
No dynamic re-allocation between spouses
Mortgage on property Single configurable balance; no amortisation scheduleConfigurable
Single income target Up to 4 phase targets; flat within each phaseConfigurable
No spending curve or variable needs modelling
All ages in whole years No monthly granularity
Death ages and retirement ages are whole numbers
Pension commencement DC income starts at retirement age; DB at specified age
Saved scenarios are local to this browser Stored on this device only — not in the cloud, and not shared across devices or browsers
The Save/Load slots and the Compare page's A/B scenarios all use the browser's own local storage, tied to this specific browser on this specific device. Switching to a different browser (or a different phone/tablet/computer), clearing browsing data, or using a private/incognito window will not show previously saved scenarios. There's no sync between devices — re-enter or re-save on each device you use.
IHT-aware drawdown order Off by default — ISA/cash drawn before DC pension, as in standard pre-2027 adviceConfigurable
Toggle in its own "IHT-Aware Drawdown Order for High-Value Estates" section on Page 1 (and independently for A/B on the Compare page) reverses the order: DC pension is drawn first, ISA/cash preserved instead. Suits larger estates with pension wealth surplus to lifetime needs — since unused pensions join the IHT estate from April 2027, spending the pension down in life while preserving ISA/cash can reduce the combined IHT + income tax hit on beneficiaries. Not likely to help estates below the IHT threshold. The Compare page's Gross Estate / Total IHT Paid / Inheritance per Child row shows the actual impact for a given scenario.
Cash ISA / Stocks & Shares ISA split Tracked separately on Page 1 (opening value and growth rate each), combined into one ISA pool for drawdown, tax, and IHT
Cash ISA and Stocks & Shares ISA are taxed identically on withdrawal (both fully tax-free) and identically exposed to IHT, so there's nothing to gain by carrying the split any further than the opening balance and growth rate. The combined pool grows at a blended rate — a weighted average of the two growth sliders, weighted by each scenario's opening cash/stocks mix. That mix is fixed at the start of the plan: since the stocks portion compounds faster, its true share of the combined pot would gradually grow in reality, nudging the real blended rate up a little over a long projection. Freezing it at the opening split is a deliberately conservative simplification, not an error.
Cash ISA contribution cap (2027 reform) From 6 April 2027, the Cash ISA contribution row is capped at £12k/yr for anyone under 65 that year — the Stocks & Shares ISA row absorbs whatever's left of the unchanged £20k combined allowance
Before 6 April 2027, and at any time for someone aged 65 or over, the only constraint is the combined £20k/person/yr allowance — exactly as today. Each person's age is checked independently in the model year the cap applies, so a couple where one partner is already 65 and the other isn't will see the cap enforced correctly for each of them. The projection's starting calendar year (today's real year) is used to work out which model year first falls on or after the reform — annual time-steps can't capture the exact mid-year 6 April cutover any more precisely than that.
"Inheritance per child" — Page 6 vs Page 7 Page 6's figure stops at IHT; Page 7's detailed panel goes one step further and also deducts the beneficiary's own income tax
Page 6's "Inheritance per Child" tile is simply (Gross Estate − IHT) ÷ number of children — a quick, headline split. Page 7's lower panel takes that same post-IHT amount, separates each child's share into the pension portion versus everything else, and applies UK income tax to the pension portion specifically — because under post-2027 rules, an inherited undrawn pension is taxed as the beneficiary's own income when they withdraw it, on top of whatever IHT the estate already paid. That's why Page 7 can show a noticeably lower number for the same scenario: it isn't a discrepancy, it's a more complete figure that only the lower panel attempts.