Drawdown Simulator Blog

A pension gives you tax relief going in and taxes you coming out; an ISA is the mirror image. An adviser sharpened the point: a pension taxes your growth on the way out, an ISA never does. Sounds like the ISA should win. Usually it doesn't, and here's a calculator that shows the working.

Ten things I've learned building a retirement calculator and modelling my own plan — from the £720 a year almost nobody claims (a reader's nudge) to the order you should draw your money in. No jargon, no sales pitch, just the stuff worth knowing.

A two-minute conversation by the coffee machine sent me back to my own calculator with a list of bugs. Here's how deferring your State Pension actually works, when it pays off, and what the tool gets right (and what it didn't, until this weekend).

Two weeks before sketching our retirement plan, my partner discovered six missing qualifying years on her State Pension forecast — three of them gone forever to a deadline she'd never heard of. Here's what to do before another year rolls off the cliff.

I'm leaning toward annuitising half the pot. Here's the full walk-through: where the money goes, what the tax-free cash actually buys, and the seven wrappers for parking £125k of PCLS. Disclaimer up front: I am emphatically not a financial adviser.

This calculator was built with AI, directed by someone who codes but not for web apps. That matters for how you should use it — AI unlocks a lot, but it also gets things confidently wrong. An honest look behind the scenes.

From April 2027, unused pension funds will be subject to inheritance tax. The Autumn Budget 2024 confirmed the change — here's who it affects and what to do about it.

Annuity rates have roughly doubled since 2021, hitting around 7.6% for a healthy 65-year-old. Does that make an annuity better than drawdown now? Here's an honest comparison.

Once you retire, the ISA vs SIPP question flips. ISA withdrawals are tax-free; SIPP withdrawals are taxed. Here's how to sequence them to minimise your lifetime tax bill.

State pension rises 4.1% to £230.25 a week, minimum pension access age rises to 57 in 2028, and all major allowances hold steady. Here's everything that changed in April 2025.

Most pension calculators ignore this critical 2024 rule change. Learn how the lifetime allowance affects large pension pots and why your withdrawal strategy needs a complete rethink.

The traditional 4% withdrawal rule assumes average market returns. Real markets are volatile, inflation varies, and UK tax rules are complex. Here's what actually works.

Deferring your state pension can add thousands to your lifetime income, but only if you understand the interaction with your private pension withdrawals and tax bands.

Couples can save thousands annually through strategic income splitting and withdrawal timing. See real examples of how marriage affects your pension tax bill.

Most online calculators use average returns and ignore market volatility. Monte Carlo simulations reveal the uncomfortable truth about retirement planning uncertainties.

The answer depends on four variables most people underestimate: pot size, withdrawal rate, investment returns, and how state pension timing affects everything. Here's the honest guide.

Market crashes, health emergencies, and family crises don't follow your retirement plan. Learn how to structure flexible withdrawals without destroying your long-term security.

My quest for a realistic pension calculator led me to build something far more sophisticated than anything available online. Here's the story of how simple questions about my retirement led to creating this tool.