UK retirement planner

When can you stop — and will the money last?

Two questions, one plan. WealthR projects every pension, ISA and property you hold through to age 99, works out the tax you would actually pay drawing on them, and tests the answer against 5,000 different futures.

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The short version. A UK retirement plan has to answer two different questions: the age you could stop working, and whether the money survives the thirty years after it. WealthR does both from one set of figures — your pensions, ISAs, property and the State Pension — and is free to use permanently, including the headline odds from the 5,000-run simulation. It is built on UK rules: the normal minimum pension age, State Pension age, the 25% tax-free element and the marginal tax on everything after it.

The two dates that decide everything

Most plans go wrong in the same place. People picture one retirement date, but UK pensions have two, and the years between them have to be paid for out of something.

So if you stop at 60 and your State Pension starts at 67, that is seven years funded entirely by you — the bridge. It is the single most expensive stretch of a retirement plan and the one a simple “pot versus target” calculation hides completely. WealthR models it month by month: what is drawn, from where, and what it costs in tax.

What it actually costs to take the money out

A pension pot is not spending money. Normally a quarter comes out tax free and the rest is taxed as income at your marginal rate, which means £1 of spending costs the pot more than £1. Money from an ISA is not income at all and is not taxed, so the order you draw things in changes the bill.

That has a real consequence. Modelled properly, a higher-rate taxpayer drawing the same lifestyle runs a pot down years earlier than a plan that ignores the tax on the withdrawal. WealthR runs the whole position through one retirement tax engine — earned income, then savings, then dividends, in the order HMRC applies them, with the personal allowance and its taper. England, Wales and Northern Ireland use the three rates — 20% to £50,270, 40% to £125,140 and 45% above — and Scotland its six; WealthR applies whichever belongs to you.

What people actually spend

A plan is only as good as the spending figure behind it, and most people have no idea what theirs should be. There are two honest reference points, and WealthR uses both.

Defaults WealthR starts from. Both are replaced the moment you enter your own figure.
ReferenceFigure
Retirement Living Standards, moderate — one person£32,700 a year
Retirement Living Standards, moderate — couple£45,400 a year
ONS average spend per person, ages 65–74£317.10 a week
ONS average spend per person, 75 and over£286.70 a week

The two ONS figures matter more than they look. Spending falls with age — by about a tenth between the mid-sixties and the late seventies — and a plan that holds one flat number for thirty years overstates what you need in the last decade and understates what you can enjoy in the first. The Retirement Living Standards are after-tax spending, not gross income, which is why the income required to deliver them is higher than the headline.

Whether it lasts, not just whether it adds up

One projection gives one answer, and it is always wrong — returns do not arrive in a smooth line. The order matters too: a bad run in the first few years of drawing down does far more damage than the same run later, because you are selling into it. That is sequence-of-returns risk, and an average return hides it entirely.

So WealthR runs 5,000 simulated futures and reports how many leave you with money, alongside a month-by-month forecast showing the age the pot would run out on steady assumptions. Both are on the free plan. What the simulation deliberately does not do is pretend to a precision it has not got — it gives a proportion, not a promise.

One change worth planning around

From 6 April 2027, unused pension pots and death benefits come into the estate for inheritance tax. Until now a pension has sat outside it, which made leaving a pot untouched an efficient thing to do. That changes, and it changes the order in which it makes sense to spend things. WealthR models the estate position alongside the retirement forecast so the shift is visible in your own numbers rather than something you read about afterwards.

What the free plan covers

Free, permanently, with no card

  • The month-by-month retirement forecast to age 99
  • The chance your money lasts, from 5,000 simulated futures
  • State Pension projection from your National Insurance record
  • Final-salary and career-average pensions modelled as income, not a pot
  • The full UK tax engine, including Scottish rates
  • Household planning, so a couple can be modelled together or apart

WealthR Pro (£5.99 a month or £39.99 a year) adds the drawdown planner with withdrawal ordering, the full range and what-ifs on the simulation, life-event scenarios and PDF reports. The forecast itself is not behind it.

How to get an answer

  1. Enter what you hold. Pensions, ISAs, property, debts, and your NI years. No limit, no card.
  2. Say when you want to stop, and what you want to live on. Or start from the Retirement Living Standards and adjust.
  3. Read the two answers. The age the money runs out on steady assumptions, and the share of 5,000 futures in which it never does.

Questions people ask

When can I take my pension in the UK?
A workplace or personal pension can normally be taken from age 55, and that rises to 57 on 6 April 2028. The State Pension is separate and starts at State Pension age, which is 66 and rising to 67. Those are two different dates, and the years between them are the part most plans get wrong — if you stop at 60 and the State Pension starts at 67, seven years have to come from somewhere else.
How much do I need to retire in the UK?
There is no single figure, but the Retirement Living Standards published by Pensions UK are the usual reference: about £32,700 a year for one person at the moderate standard, or £45,400 for a couple. Those are after-tax spending figures, not gross income, which matters because the income needed to produce them is higher. WealthR defaults to them and lets you replace them with what you actually spend.
How is pension drawdown taxed?
Normally a quarter of a defined-contribution pot can be taken tax free, and the rest is taxed as income at your marginal rate when you draw it. That is why drawing £1 of spending money costs the pot more than £1. Money taken from an ISA is not income and is not taxed, so the order you draw things in changes the tax bill. WealthR works the tax out on the whole position rather than on each pot separately.
Will my money last in retirement?
That depends on returns, inflation and how long you live, none of which are knowable, so a single projection answers it badly. WealthR runs 5,000 simulated futures and reports how many of them leave you with money — and, separately, a month-by-month forecast showing the age the pot would run out on a steady set of assumptions. Both are free.
Does it include the State Pension?
Yes. The new State Pension is £241.30 a week for the 2026/27 tax year, and WealthR projects what you are on course for from the National Insurance years you have recorded, starting at your own State Pension age rather than a round number.
What happens to my pension when I die?
This is changing. From 6 April 2027 unused pension pots and death benefits come into the estate for inheritance tax, which they have not been until now. It alters how a pension sits alongside the rest of an estate, and WealthR models the estate position so the change is visible rather than a surprise.

Find out what your own numbers say

Your pensions, your spending, your dates — projected to 99 and tested against 5,000 futures. Free permanently, no card, no bank linking.

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WealthR is a planning and forecasting tool, not a financial adviser. WealthR Ltd is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and nothing here is personal advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold anything. Projections are illustrations based on assumptions you choose, not predictions, and tax figures shown are for the 2026/27 UK tax year. For advice about your own circumstances, speak to a regulated adviser or MoneyHelper.