This site uses cookies for core functionality and basic performance tracking. No marketing trackers are used.
Decline Accept
Simulators

UK Retirement Pot (DC & DB) Income Drawdown

I built this simulator to map the gap between starting personal pension drawdown and receiving fixed incomes (DB or State Pension). It models the annual SIPP/DC withdrawals required to target a specific gross income, helping to visualise pot longevity, while stress-testing variable State Pension amounts and entitlement ages. Disclaimer
Embed Simulator Buy me a coffee
Explore Other Models & Simulators
Pension Drawdown Early Retirement Bridge Mortgage vs ISA Adjusted Net Income vs HICBC Inflation vs Compounding

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did I make the State Pension age and benefit amounts fully adjustable?

Institutional calculators almost always hardcode official government timelines because corporate compliance structures require them to mirror current legislation. However, with the UK State Pension age actively climbing to 67 and structural debates surrounding the sustainability of the Triple Lock, I wanted to account for legislative risk.

I engineered the state variables in this component to allow manual overrides for both the payout value and the start age (bounded between 60 and 75). This allows me to simulate worst-case scenarios, such as a delayed state pension age or a reduced real-terms entitlement, so I can stress-test how a policy shift impacts my personal pot's burn rate during the bridge years.

Why did I specifically build a Defined Benefit (DB) layer into this simulation?

Most retirement calculators are built around a single premise: depleting a Defined Contribution (DC) pot by applying a linear drawdown rate to a single lump sum. For my situation, this was completely inadequate for mapping a realistic early retirement 'bridge' because I have a deferred DB pension from 12 years of working in the public sector.

If I stop working at 58 but have a deferred DB pension (like an NHS or Civil Service scheme) starting at 60 or 65, the cash-flow calculation fundamentally changes. I engineered this DB layer so the model could automatically calculate the accelerated SIPP depletion required during those specific gap years, then instantly downshift the drawdown rate the exact moment my guaranteed, inflation-linked DB floor activates.

What is the difference between Nominal and Real rates of return?

On this site, I model my projections using two different lenses to help me visualize my future:

Nominal Return: This represents the actual cash value I expect to see on a statement. I use this primarily for my Debt and Mortgage simulations, as the principal owed doesn't typically adjust with inflation, only the interest rate does.

Real Return (Inflation-Adjusted): This represents the "buying power" of my money in today’s terms. When I model Income and Portfolio Targets, I find it more helpful to "pre-shrink" the growth rate by an estimated inflation figure. This helps me estimate what that future pot could actually buy in 2040, rather than just looking at a large, potentially misleading nominal number.