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How your total funds could track under each scenario, year by year, using the figures entered in your profile — not any sliders you've adjusted elsewhere.

Using all the figures in Your Profile — pension, savings, State Pension, and other income — we calculate the maximum monthly spending, once you've retired, that keeps your funds intact to your target age. If you've entered an age in "Income Stops at Age", we project your figures forward to that point first.

💡 Calculate max monthly spending

Pension Credit is one of the UK's most under-claimed benefits — an estimated 760,000+ eligible pensioners miss out every year, worth an average of around £2,600/year each, before counting what it unlocks (Council Tax Reduction, Winter Fuel Payment, free NHS dental treatment, and a free TV licence at 75+). This is a rough guide based on your Profile figures — the real DWP assessment considers more detail than we can model here. Note: any savings above £10,000 are converted into a "deemed" weekly income for this calculation — this is a notional figure DWP assumes you could earn, not money you actually receive, but it counts the same way for eligibility.

Around 2 million eligible couples don't claim Marriage Allowance. If one of you earns under £12,570 (the Personal Allowance) and the other pays basic-rate tax, the lower earner can transfer £1,260 of their unused allowance — worth up to £252/year. This uses your Household details and a simplified view of income (State Pension + Other Monthly Income) — it doesn't model every income type (e.g. savings interest, dividends), and Scotland uses different tax bands. Claims can also be backdated up to 4 years.

These figures are set on Your Profile, so everything you explore here always starts from the same numbers. Edit in Your Profile →

↺ Reset Sliders

This chart uses your actual Monthly Spending figure from Your Profile — not a hypothetical — to check whether you're within budget or over it, and what that means by your target age: a lump sum left over, or a shortfall. Move the sliders to see how sensitive this is to different rates. To test a different spending figure instead of your real one, use the chart below.

Sliders start at your profile rates and target age. These figures are estimates only — real-world interest rates, inflation and returns will differ from the assumptions used here, so it's worth coming back and checking this every year with your actual, up-to-date numbers rather than relying on a single projection made years in advance.

New here — State Pension Growth: everywhere else on this site, your State Pension is assumed to simply keep pace with inflation. The "triple lock" has historically pushed it up somewhat faster than that in real terms, though whether this continues is genuinely uncertain. This slider lets you explore that possibility for yourself, up to a modest 1%/year, without changing anything on Your Profile.

This chart is a sandbox: type any monthly figure below — not necessarily your real spending — to test its year-by-year effect on your savings and pension, through to your target age (or depletion), without changing the chart above. It starts at your actual Monthly Spending figure, so you're never looking at unspent money growing forever by default.

A separate what-if exploration, independent of everything above. Both lines use the same pension pot — the % you choose to annuitise — for a fair comparison, not your total household withdrawal figure elsewhere. An annuity swaps that money for guaranteed income for life — no investment risk or flexibility, and (unless joint-life or guaranteed) nothing left for anyone after you. Drawdown stays invested and flexible, but carries the risk of running out, shown here if your withdrawal rate outpaces growth. Neither is right or wrong — these are indicative market rates. Always use the Open Market Option to shop across providers rather than your pension provider's default offer — it can mean 10-20% more income for the same money. These three options only scratch the surface — real annuities also come with guarantee periods, value protection, escalation linked to specific indices, and enhanced/impaired terms for health conditions, each priced differently. Given how many variables affect the actual rate you'd be offered, it's well worth getting regulated financial advice before choosing which type to buy.

Joint-life options need Household Type set to "Couple" (on the Personal card) and Partner's Date of Birth filled in under Your Household.

👪 As a couple, you each have your own set of these allowances — so the figures below show your combined total across both of you, and your Personal Allowance and tax bands are split between you using the Income Split setting in Your Household.

If you have fewer than 35 qualifying years at State Pension age, you can usually pay voluntary Class 3 National Insurance contributions to fill gaps and boost your State Pension — often one of the best-value financial decisions available, since it typically pays for itself within about 3 years of retirement. You can normally only fill gaps from the last 6 tax years (deadline 5 April each year), and it isn't always worthwhile — check your real position with the Future Pension Centre (0800 731 0175) first, especially if you were ever "contracted out," as this can change the numbers.

💡 Self-employed with low profits? The figures above assume the standard Class 3 rate (£956.80/year). But if you were self-employed with profits below the Small Profits Threshold (£7,105 for 2026/27) during your gap years, you may only need to pay the much cheaper voluntary Class 2 rate instead — just £189.80/year (£3.65/week) for the same qualifying year. Whether Class 2 or Class 3 applies depends on your circumstances in the specific years you're filling, so it's always worth checking with the Future Pension Centre before paying. Class 4 National Insurance (also paid by the self-employed) is a separate profits-based charge and doesn't affect your qualifying years at all, so it's not relevant here. Note that from April 2026, new applicants for voluntary contributions generally need a stronger UK connection — 10 years of UK residence or NI contributions, up from 3 previously.

Compares claiming straight away against deferring for however many years you choose below. This is a separate what-if exploration — the deferral period here is independent of your Deferral Strategy setting and the comparison table below, but it's kept in sync with the "Defer for" slider on the payment chart underneath, so you can see both the running total and the per-payment effect for the same period. Figures are shown in today's money.

See exactly how much more (or less) you'd receive in each 4-weekly payment — the amount that actually lands in your bank account — by deferring for a period you choose. State Pension increases by 1% for every 9 weeks deferred — approximately 5.8% for a full year. Figures are shown in today's money.

A separate what-if exploration, independent of the snapshot above. See how your loan balance and property value move apart over time, and how voluntary repayments can slow that down. Starting debt includes any Mortgage Remaining entered, since equity release proceeds must repay it first. Most plans allow penalty-free voluntary repayments, commonly up to 10% of your original loan per year — always check your own plan's terms. Figures use your Assumed Interest Rate and Property Growth Rate above.

This is the single biggest thing that could change everything on this page, and it's widely underused — many families never find out they were eligible.

Before relying on this projection, check whether NHS Continuing Healthcare might apply — see the card above. If eligible, the NHS could cover your care in full regardless of assets, making this chart's depletion irrelevant.

A separate what-if exploration, independent of the summary above. Models care means-test rules: self-funding in full above £23,250; a tapered contribution between £14,250-£23,250 (£1/week per £250 in that band, plus income not modelled here); below £14,250, your local authority covers the rest. Property is valued as councils actually do — market value minus any mortgage, minus 10% for notional selling costs — and stays untouched (shown separately) until other assets run out, at which point proceeds land as cash in "Total Funds" (you may see it jump) and Property drops to £0. A simplified illustration — real rules also involve a 12-week property disregard, deferred payment agreements, and "top-up" fees, none modelled here.

My spouse or civil partner still lives in the property A relative aged 60+, or of any age if incapacitated, still lives in the property A dependent child under 18 lives in the property

A separate what-if exploration, independent of the calculation above. Most figures on this site are shown in today's money, but this chart is deliberately different: it grows your estate at a nominal rate you choose, against your tax-free threshold held completely flat — because unlike your assets, that threshold genuinely isn't adjusted for inflation. It's been frozen since 2009 and, as of the November 2025 Budget, will stay frozen until at least April 2031. This is "fiscal drag" in action: even if your wealth just keeps pace with inflation, more of it can end up taxable purely because the threshold doesn't move. The projection also re-checks the Residence Nil-Rate Band taper each year, since a growing estate can lose some or all of that allowance once it passes £2m.

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You've explored every tool on the site

Worth bookmarking this page — and remember to revisit annually with your updated figures.