Retirement drawdown planner

See how long your money could last and explore the most tax-efficient way to draw income from your pension, ISAs and investments. Thirty years of being told to pay in, and nobody ever explains the day you start taking it out.

Updated for the 2026/27 tax year · reviewed

Your retirement

Start here

Six numbers get you an answer. Everything below the result is already set to a sensible default - change it if you want to.

This plan funds £32,000 a year to age 92, leaving

£271,242

left over at 92 - in the money of that year, not today’s

The income you asked for is in today's money; the pot and tax figures below are in future pounds - the cash amounts of the years they fall in, growing with your 2.5% inflation assumption while tax thresholds stay where they are today. Set inflation to 0 to read everything in today's money.

Pot at retirement

£598,295

at age 62 - in future pounds

Tax-free cash

£149,574

spread over withdrawals

Lifetime tax

£210,635

income tax across retirement, in future pounds

Marginal rate

20%

on your next pound, year one

Which pot do you empty first?

The same pots and the same spending, drawn in three different orders. This is the single biggest decision on this page - and the one an ordinary drawdown calculator can't show you.

  • Lifetime tax
    £210,635
    Money runs out
    Never
    Left at 92
    £271,242
  • Lifetime tax
    £415,002
    Money runs out
    Never
    Left at 92
    £31,825
  • Lifetime tax
    £231,746
    Money runs out
    Never
    Left at 92
    £221,586

Select an order to model it in every chart and table below. You're currently looking at Fill the basic-rate band.

“Fill the basic-rate band” takes pension income each year up to the point the next pound would be taxed at 40%, then switches to the ISA - using an allowance that would otherwise be wasted, and stopping the pension growing into a pot that can only be emptied at the higher rate.

The rest of your numbers

Already filled in with sensible assumptions. Adjust anything that doesn't match your situation - the result above updates as you go.

Your plan

How long the money has to last, and what it's up against.

Your pension

Assumptions for the defined-contribution pots you entered above.

ISAs and other investments

Assumptions for the balance you entered above.

Cash

Drawn last - it earns least, and it's the buffer.

Guaranteed income

The State Pension and any final-salary pension. These arrive whether you want them or not - and they use up your personal allowance first.

Does the final-salary pension rise with inflation?

A flat pension halves in real terms over about 28 years at 2.5% inflation. Most public-sector schemes are index-linked; many older private ones are not.

Based on your age today, your State Pension age is likely to be 67. Check yours on GOV.UK, and your forecast amount on your State Pension forecast - you only get the full amount with 35 qualifying years.

How you take your tax-free cash

You can normally take 25% of a pension without paying tax on it, capped at £268,275 across all your pensions. How you take it changes the tax on everything else.

Tax-free cash

25% of each withdrawal
Choose this if you have no particular use for a lump sum. A quarter of every withdrawal comes out tax-free, and the rest stays invested inside the pension. This is what most people do, and it's the default here.
One lump sum at retirement
Choose this if you have something specific to do with the money - clearing a mortgage, a one-off cost, or wanting a cash buffer outside the pension. The trade-off is that it stops growing in a tax shelter the day you take it.
Don't take it
Unusual. Worth modelling only to see what the tax-free entitlement is actually worth to you - compare it against the other two and the difference is the value of the allowance.

Where you live

Income tax rates

Scotland sets its own income tax rates and bands on pension income - six bands rather than three, with the 42% higher rate starting at £43,662 instead of £50,270. This changes the whole table, including the point at which it stops making sense to draw from the pension.

Will it last?

Every pot, stacked, from today to age 92.

Where the money comes from

Gross income by source each year, against the dashed line of what you wanted to spend. The bars sit above the line by roughly the tax due - you have to draw more than you spend.

What it costs in tax

£210,635 of income tax across the whole retirement, on this order of withdrawals.

Year by year

Every retirement year, in the money of that year. Amounts are gross unless the column says otherwise.

  • Age 62

    £38,038in your hand

    From pension
    £41,793
    Tax
    £3,755
    Left in pots
    £747,404

  • Age 63

    £38,989in your hand

    From pension
    £42,912
    Tax
    £3,923
    Left in pots
    £738,447

  • Age 64

    £39,964in your hand

    From pension
    £44,058
    Tax
    £4,095
    Left in pots
    £727,965

  • Age 65

    £40,963in your hand

    From pension
    £45,234
    Tax
    £4,271
    Left in pots
    £715,863

  • Age 66

    £41,987in your hand

    From pension
    £46,439
    Tax
    £4,452
    Left in pots
    £702,041

  • Age 67

    £43,036in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £16,876
    From pension
    £31,790
    Tax
    £5,630
    Left in pots
    £702,276

  • Age 68

    £44,112in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £17,298
    From pension
    £32,659
    Tax
    £5,844
    Left in pots
    £701,684

  • Age 69

    £45,215in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £17,730
    From pension
    £33,550
    Tax
    £6,064
    Left in pots
    £700,210

  • Age 70

    £46,346in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £18,173
    From pension
    £34,462
    Tax
    £6,290
    Left in pots
    £697,794

  • Age 71

    £47,504in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £18,628
    From pension
    £35,398
    Tax
    £6,521
    Left in pots
    £694,371

  • Age 72

    £48,692in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £19,093
    From pension
    £36,357
    Tax
    £6,758
    Left in pots
    £689,876

  • Age 73

    £49,909in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £19,571
    From pension
    £37,340
    Tax
    £7,001
    Left in pots
    £684,240

  • Age 74

    £51,157in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £20,060
    From pension
    £38,347
    Tax
    £7,250
    Left in pots
    £677,388

  • Age 75

    £52,436in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £20,561
    From pension
    £39,380
    Tax
    £7,505
    Left in pots
    £669,243

  • Age 76

    £53,747in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £21,075
    From pension
    £38,926
    From ISA / cash
    £1,285
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £659,951

  • Age 77

    £55,090in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £21,602
    From pension
    £41,319
    From ISA / cash
    £2,804
    Tax
    £10,635
    Left in pots
    £646,377

  • Age 78

    £56,468in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £22,142
    From pension
    £28,128
    From ISA / cash
    £13,738
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £634,493

  • Age 79

    £57,879in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £22,696
    From pension
    £27,574
    From ISA / cash
    £15,149
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £621,207

  • Age 80

    £59,326in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £23,263
    From pension
    £27,007
    From ISA / cash
    £16,596
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £606,428

  • Age 81

    £60,809in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £23,845
    From pension
    £26,425
    From ISA / cash
    £18,079
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £590,057

  • Age 82

    £62,330in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £24,441
    From pension
    £25,829
    From ISA / cash
    £19,600
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £571,994

  • Age 83

    £63,888in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £25,052
    From pension
    £25,218
    From ISA / cash
    £21,158
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £552,131

  • Age 84

    £65,485in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £25,678
    From pension
    £24,592
    From ISA / cash
    £22,755
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £530,352

  • Age 85

    £67,122in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £26,320
    From pension
    £23,950
    From ISA / cash
    £24,392
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £506,539

  • Age 86

    £68,800in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £26,978
    From pension
    £23,292
    From ISA / cash
    £26,070
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £480,563

  • Age 87

    £70,520in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £27,653
    From pension
    £22,617
    From ISA / cash
    £27,790
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £452,290

  • Age 88

    £72,283in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £28,344
    From pension
    £21,926
    From ISA / cash
    £29,553
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £421,580

  • Age 89

    £74,090in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £29,053
    From pension
    £21,217
    From ISA / cash
    £31,360
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £388,282

  • Age 90

    £75,943in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £29,779
    From pension
    £20,491
    From ISA / cash
    £33,213
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £352,239

  • Age 91

    £77,841in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £30,523
    From pension
    £19,747
    From ISA / cash
    £35,111
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £313,284

  • Age 92

    £79,787in your hand

    State & final-salary
    £31,287
    From pension
    £18,983
    From ISA / cash
    £37,057
    Tax
    £7,540
    Left in pots
    £271,242

Every figure grows with inflation, so later years look larger than they buy. At 2.5% a year, £32,000 today is £79,787 by age 92 - the same weekly shop.

You've found the order. Now hold it for thirty years.

A drawdown plan only works if it survives a house move, a bad market and the year one income stops. Build it into a living plan you can revisit, instead of a page you'll close.

Create your free account

How this calculator works

The model runs one year at a time, from your age today to the age your plan ends. Annual steps are deliberate rather than a shortcut: income tax is assessed over a whole tax year, so a monthly model would have to rebuild the annual position anyway to get the tax right.

Before you retire

Each pot grows at its own rate, and your monthly contributions are added. The pension's growth rate has your annual charge deducted from it, so a 5% return with 0.5% of charges compounds at 4.5% - which over twenty years is a much bigger difference than it sounds.

After you retire

Each year we start from the income you said you wanted, uprated for inflation. Guaranteed income comes first, because it arrives whether you want it or not: your State Pension and any final-salary pension are taxed, and what they leave in your hand is subtracted from the target. Whatever is still missing is drawn from your pots, in the order you chose.

Pension withdrawals are grossed up for tax. If you need £1,000 in your hand and you're a basic-rate taxpayer, you have to take about £1,250 out. We solve for that gross figure numerically rather than with a formula, so a withdrawal that straddles two tax bands - part at 20%, part at 40% - is handled exactly rather than approximated.

The tax

Pension income, final-salary income and the State Pension are all taxed as ordinary income at 2026/27 rates. No National Insurance is due on pension income at any age, which is why a £40,000 retirement income leaves you more than a £40,000 salary ever did. ISA withdrawals aren't taxable income at all.

The personal allowance tapers away above £100,000, which produces the notorious 60% band in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - and 67.5% in Scotland, where the rate above it is 45% rather than 40%. The calculator measures your marginal rate rather than looking it up, so those traps appear in the figures without being special-cased.

Scotland sets its own rates and bands on pension income, with six bands rather than three and the higher rate starting at £43,662 instead of £50,270. Choosing Scotland switches the whole table.

Tax-free cash

You can normally take 25% of a defined-contribution pension free of tax, capped at £268,275 across all your pensions. Taking it as a lump sum at retirement moves that money out of the pension into somewhere you can spend it without a tax charge - modelled here as going into your ISA pot, where it keeps growing. Taking it as 25% of each withdrawal (what providers call UFPLS) leaves more invested inside the pension for longer, and spreads the tax-free element across the years. Neither is universally better; the lifetime tax figure lets you see which suits your numbers.

Why the order matters

Drawing £30,000 from an ISA and drawing £30,000 from a pension cost completely different amounts of tax. Spending the accessible money first feels prudent, and often isn't: it wastes the personal allowance in the early years, and leaves a large pension that can only be emptied later - alongside the State Pension - at higher rates.

"Fill the basic-rate band" is the standard answer to that. Each year it takes pension income up to the point where the next pound would be taxed at the higher rate, then switches to the ISA for anything more. The comparison table runs all three orders on your actual numbers, because which one wins genuinely depends on the size of each pot.

What this does not model

  • One person, not a couple. Two personal allowances and two basic-rate bands change the answer a great deal. Modelling that properly needs both sets of pots, which is what a full plan is for.
  • Sequence risk. Growth is a fixed rate every year. A run of poor returns early in retirement, while you are also withdrawing, damages a pot far more than the same average return delivered smoothly.
  • Capital Gains Tax. The "ISA and other investments" pot is treated as tax-free to withdraw. That is right for an ISA and optimistic for a general investment account.
  • The money purchase annual allowance. Once you flexibly access a pension, the amount you can still contribute drops to £10,000 a year. If you plan to keep working and paying in, that matters.
  • Annuity purchase, care costs, means-tested benefits, the tapered annual allowance, and inheritance tax on what is left.

Every figure after the first year is in the money of that year, not today's. That is why the later rows look large: 2026/27 money and 2050 money buy different amounts of the same shopping.

Questions people ask

Should I take money from my ISA or my pension first?

Spending the ISA first feels safer but often costs more overall. It wastes your personal allowance in the early years and leaves a large pension to be emptied later, on top of your State Pension, at higher rates. Taking pension income each year up to the point the next pound would be taxed at 40% (42% in Scotland), then topping up from the ISA, uses an allowance that would otherwise be lost. Which order wins depends on the size of each pot, which is why this calculator runs all three on your own numbers.

Do I pay National Insurance on pension income?

No. National Insurance is not charged on pension income at any age, whether that's drawdown, an annuity, a final-salary pension or the State Pension. That's why a £40,000 retirement income leaves noticeably more in your hand than a £40,000 salary did. Income tax still applies in the normal way.

How much of my pension is tax-free?

Normally 25%, capped at £268,275 across all your pensions. You can take it as a single lump sum when you retire, or as 25% of each withdrawal as you go - what providers call UFPLS. Taking it gradually keeps more invested inside the pension; taking it up front moves it somewhere you can spend without a further tax charge. This calculator models both so you can compare the lifetime tax.

When does the State Pension start, and how much is it?

State Pension age is currently 66, rising to 67 for anyone born on or after 6 April 1961, and to 68 for those born after 5 April 1977. The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week, but you only get the full amount with about 35 qualifying years - check your own forecast on GOV.UK. It counts as taxable income and uses up your personal allowance before anything else does, which is exactly why it changes the best withdrawal order.

Does this work if I live in Scotland?

Yes. Scotland sets its own income tax rates and bands on pension income - six bands rather than three, with the higher 42% rate starting at £43,662 instead of £50,270. Switching the region here changes the whole table, including the point at which the calculator stops drawing from the pension.

Last reviewed against 2026/27 UK rules. Projections are estimates for education, not financial advice. Understanding your projections.

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