Plan your retirement

Before you start

Alongside a few personal details you’ll need to have an estimate of:

The current value of your pension(s)
How much (or the percentage) you and your employer pay into them

The planner uses the HMRC UK Personal Allowance and tax bands for England and Northern Ireland from 6 April 2020 to 5 April 2021. Scottish and Welsh income tax thresholds may differ.

When you plan to retire, or start taking money from your pension(s)

Remember, the retirement planner only gives you an estimate and your future income may differ significantly from the illustration provided. It isn’t intended as a recommendation or personalised advice.

If you do want to make changes to your pension, we strongly recommend you talk to a financial adviser. If you would like more information about getting financial advice, visit our financial advice webpage.

What you’ll find out

Answer a few simple questions to see an estimate of how much you may be able to retire on from the time you turn 55 if you were to use a flexible income (drawdown), a guaranteed income (annuity), or withdraw your pension(s) as cash.

Up to 25% of your pension(s) is available tax-free with the remainder being taxable. As you go through the tool, you will learn more about these options.

A flexible way to fund retirement

You can take money directly from your pension to suit your needs and keep the rest invested with income drawdown. While invested, its value can go up and down.

Get a guaranteed income for life

Use your pension to buy an annuity, which will pay you a regular guaranteed income for the rest of your life. Once bought, the annuity usually can’t be changed.

Withdrawing your pension

If you’d prefer everything in one go when you retire, you can choose to take your entire pension as a lump sum. Remember that this money may have to last you the rest of your life and you’ll need to consider the tax implications of a full withdrawal.

Retirement planner process

Complete in 3 simple steps.

Step 1 of 3

Provide basic details about yourself

We will use your age to estimate when you will retire and how many years of income you will need.

Step 2 of 3

Input your pension information

We will use your salary, pension value and monthly contributions to estimate the value of your pension pot at retirement.

Step 3 of 3

Discover your income options at retirement

View your estimated pension value at retirement and discover the options for managing your income during retirement.

Estimated completion time: 5 minutes

Start planning

Pension Wise

This government service offers free and impartial guidance on your retirement options, either over the phone or face to face.

Visit Pension Wise

Pension articles

Take a look at our library of helpful articles and guides.

Before you start