Lintel

When you can stop, and what you can spend.

Start from a shape, then change the numbers.

YouEdit

Age now

Birth monthState Pension age uses the 6th.Birth year

State Pension age about 67. Defined contribution pots open at 55. Changing age sets the birth year to 2026 minus that age — correct the year if your birthday is still ahead.

Stop working atMoney must last until

Spending and drawdownEdit

Net spending a year, in today's money£After tax. It rises with inflation.How withdrawals are taken

Planning bar

Earliest retirement is the first age where at least this share of random futures still pay the spending target through to 95.

Empty the pension byWhich pot is spent first

From April 2027, unused pension funds are due to count towards inheritance tax. Spending the pension before the ISA runs that pot down and leaves the ISA, which is already in the estate. The income chart splits the two.

Tax on pension income

Defined contribution tax-free cash

Other taxable income, today's money£Part-time pay or rent. Not itself a pot.Other income stops at

State PensionEdit

Qualifying National Insurance years

Forecast £12,189 a year in today's money. Full new State Pension for 2026/27 is £12,548. Under 10 years pays nothing in this simple rule. Contracted-out service is not modelled — paste a forecast if you have one.

Or type your own forecast£Leave the NI slider alone to go back to the forecast — moving it clears a typed figure.Real rise once it is in payment%Zero means it only keeps up with inflation. The triple lock has often done better; it may not.

Defined benefitEdit

Pension at the start age, today's money£Starts atRise once in paymentPension given up for a lump sum£Optional. Paid at the start age, tax-free in this model.

PotsEdit

Pension

Value today£Added each working year£Include employer money. Tax relief is assumed to be inside this figure.

Equity%Gilts%Cash%

Yearly charge%

ISA

Value today£Added each working year£Stops when you stop working.

Equity%Gilts%Cash%

Yearly charge%

Markets and tax bandsEdit

Return preset

Forward is the planning set: 4% real equities, 1.5% gilts, 0.5% cash. Long-run uses a century of world equities at 5%, UK gilts at 1.4% and cash near 1%, before fees. Edit any figure — the comparison table still shows the named sets.

Equity real%Gilt real%Cash real%

Equity swing%Gilt swing%Cash swing%

Inflation%Default 2.5%. UK prices compounded near 3.5% from 1900 to 2024. The FCA's middle illustration uses 2%.Equity and gilt correlation%Long-run link is mildly positive. 2022 was a reminder they can fall together.Frozen allowances start rising inPersonal allowance £12,570 is frozen in nominal pounds until this tax year, then rises with your inflation assumption.

Earliest stop

—

The first age that clears your planning bar.

You could spend

—

Working from your rates and the planning bar.

This plan

—

Chance the spending target lasts.

Running the futures…

Chance by ageTap a bar to set the stop age

Pine bars clear the 80% bar. Clay is the age you have selected.

Income, if returns are steady

Today's money, on the compound-rate path. State Pension and the defined benefit are gross. ISA withdrawals are untaxed. Pension withdrawals include tax-free cash, and tax on the rest sits in the gap under the dashed spending line. The ISA is spent before the pension.

State Pension
Defined benefit
ISA
Pension pot
Spending

What the pot might do

End-of-year wealth in today's money. The band is the middle 80% of random paths. The line is the median. Fees and your mix are already in.

The same life, different futures

Sustainable income is the most you can aim to spend, in today's money, and still clear the rule for that model. Random futures use your volatility. The others are single paths.

Model	Outcome	Sustainable	Pot at retirement	Year-one draw

Where the numbers come from

Full new State Pension for 2026/27 is £241.30 a week (£12,547.60 a year), from DWP benefit rates. This model scales that by qualifying years over 35, and pays nothing under 10. It is not a contracted-out calculation. Check the forecast on GOV.UK.
State Pension age follows the Pensions Act 2014 timetable from the birth month you set, using the 6th of the month. The rise from 67 to 68 is the legislated 2044–46 path, not a later review.
Normal minimum pension age is 55 if you were born before April 1973, otherwise 57 from April 2028. Protected ages are ignored.
Tax is England, Wales and Northern Ireland: personal allowance £12,570, basic rate to £50,270, higher rate to £125,140, then 45%, with the allowance taper above £100,000. Scottish rates are not included. Bands stay frozen in nominal pounds until 2031, then rise with your inflation assumption.
From 6 April 2027, unused pension funds and death benefits are due to be included in the estate for inheritance tax. This model does not calculate that tax. "Empty the pension by" is only a way to see the spending that uses the pot up by that age. ISA withdrawals are outside income tax and are drawn before the pension.
Long-run returns follow the UBS Global Investment Returns Yearbook 2025 (Dimson, Marsh and Staunton), 1900–2024. UK equities compounded at about 5.4% real, gilts at 1.4%, cash near 1%, and UK inflation near 3.5%. The historical preset uses 5% for world equities because most DC defaults are global. Since 2000, world equities have compounded nearer 3.5% real.
The forward preset — 4% real equities, 1.5% gilts, 0.5% cash — is a planning assumption below that long run, not a forecast. Volatility is a global-pot assumption (16% equities, 9% gilts), lower than single-country century swings.
FCA rows use the COBS 13 Annex 2 maximum illustration rates for pensions: nominal 2%, 5% and 8%, with inflation 0%, 2% and 4%. They are caps used on projections, not expected returns.
The rough-patch rows are rounded shapes of the 1970s, 2000–09, 2008 and 2022. They are not reprints of an index. After the patch, your own compound rates resume.
Random futures use a seeded lognormal so the median year matches your compound real return. Inflation itself is not randomised. Nothing here is advice, a product illustration, or a promise that a pot will last.