Calculators
Retirement calculator
What your pension could be worth when you stop work, the income it might support, and how that compares with the life you have in mind.
What this means
How it works
How the projection works
The calculator takes what you have saved, adds your monthly contributions, and grows the total each year until the age you want to retire. It then works out the level income that pot could pay, in today's money, if it had to last until 95, and adds the State Pension from age 67.
Three assumptions do most of the work, and it is worth understanding each of them.
- Growth. You choose the rate. Charges of 0.75% a year are taken off, and once you retire the calculator assumes a more cautious 4% a year before charges.
- Inflation. Prices are assumed to rise by 2.5% a year, and your contributions with them. Every figure you see has inflation taken out.
- How long it has to last. The income is spread to age 95. Many people will not need it for that long; some will need it for longer.
Reading your result
If the income shown is below your target, there are only four things that move it: paying in more, retiring later, taking more investment risk, or accepting a lower income. The calculator tells you roughly how much more a month would close the gap on its own. In practice most plans use a little of each.
If you are ahead of your target, the questions change. Could you retire earlier? Are you taking more risk than you need to? Would some of the money do more good passed on now, particularly with pensions being brought into inheritance tax from April 2027?
What a projection cannot tell you
Whether your old pensions carry guarantees worth keeping. How to draw the money so that as little as possible goes in tax. What happens to the plan if markets fall in the year you retire. Whether an annuity, drawdown or a mix would suit you. Those are the things an adviser works through, usually with a cash-flow model built on your actual figures rather than averages.
Questions
Retirement planning questions
How much do I need to retire?
It depends on the life you want. The Retirement Living Standards, published by Pensions UK and updated in 2026, put the cost for one person at about £13,900 a year for a minimum standard, £32,700 for a moderate one and £45,400 for a comfortable one. For a couple the figures are £22,500, £45,400 and £62,700. They assume you own your home outright.
How much is the State Pension?
The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week in 2026/27, about £12,548 a year, and is due to rise to £250.70 a week in April 2027. You normally need 35 qualifying years of National Insurance for the full amount and at least 10 to receive anything. State Pension age is rising from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028.
When can I take my private pension?
Currently from 55, rising to 57 on 6 April 2028. You can usually take up to 25% tax-free, within a lifetime limit of £268,275 for most people, and the rest is taxed as income when you draw it.
Why are the results in today's money?
A pot of £800,000 in twenty years will not buy what £800,000 buys now. Showing everything in today's money strips inflation out, so you can compare the result directly with what you spend at the moment.
What growth rate should I use?
Nobody knows what markets will return. The calculator starts at 5% a year before charges, which is in the middle of the range regulators allow firms to use for illustrations. Try a lower figure as well, to see how much your plan relies on good returns.
I have several old pensions. Does that matter?
Add them together for this calculator. In practice, older schemes can carry higher charges, dated investment choices or valuable guarantees, and working out which to combine and which to leave alone is one of the most common reasons people speak to an adviser.
Know where you stand. Then decide what to do about it.
Book a complimentary video consultation with an FCA-regulated adviser who specialises in retirement planning, and go through your numbers together. No obligation.