Question 1

How long will my pension pot last?

Accepted Answer

Drawdown Simulator runs thousands of Monte Carlo simulations, drawing each year's investment return and inflation at random around the averages you set, and reports the share of those futures in which your pot lasts to your target age, alongside best, median and worst-case outcomes.

Question 2

Is Drawdown Simulator free to use?

Accepted Answer

Yes. It is completely free, needs no login, shows no ads, and stores nothing on a server. Your figures stay in your browser and can be shared by a link that encodes the inputs or saved to a file you keep.

Question 3

Does it include UK tax?

Accepted Answer

Yes. It calculates UK income tax per person using UFPLS, so each withdrawal is 25 percent tax-free and 75 percent taxable, spread across retirement. It tracks the GBP 268,275 lump-sum allowance and shows the year your tax-free cash runs out. Scottish tax rates are supported.

Question 4

Does it include the State Pension?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can include the State Pension with a triple-lock option that grows it each year by the higher of inflation, earnings growth or 2.5 percent, and choose whether it counts toward your annual income target.

Question 5

Should I use the planner or the calculator?

Accepted Answer

The planner asks six questions and reads your plan back in plain English, which is all most people need. The calculator exposes every input on one screen for a detailed plan. Your figures carry over between the two, so you can start in either and switch at any time.

Question 6

Can I model living off investment-trust dividends?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can fund part or all of your income from the dividends paid by income investment trusts rather than selling units, using a realistic starting yield of around 4 percent after charges, with a modelled dividend cut in a crash year so the risk is shown honestly.

Question 7

Can non-UK residents use it?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Although it is UK-first, you can adapt it by disabling the 25 percent tax-free cash, editing the tax bands to match your country, and setting the State Pension to your local equivalent or to zero.

Question 8

Is this financial advice?

Accepted Answer

No. Drawdown Simulator is a planning and modelling tool. The projections are estimates that depend on the assumptions you enter and should not be treated as regulated financial advice.