Regardless of how far along your financial journey you are, knowing what may lie ahead is compelling. This planner won't give you a definitive answer. But it will provide a degree of clarity as to what might be possible.
Maybe first to disappoint you. This planner won't give you a definitive answer. But it will provide a degree of clarity as to what might be possible. A starting point, a place to maybe dream big, or get real — and then perhaps a place to periodically revisit to see how you are doing versus some past idea of the future.
No standalone tool, calculator, or spreadsheet (this one included) replaces professional financial advice. If your situation is complex — a large DB pension, significant assets, divorce, inheritance — good professional advice ought to pay for itself. That said, for less complex arrangements it is possible to go it alone.
There are many resources, both free and paid for, available to assist you, and I would argue it is in your own self-interest to know as much as you are willing to discover for yourself. There are many free and quite excellent sources you can go to for information. You can find links to examples of such in the resources section. Many you will already be familiar with. There's a good reason for this. Because they make it easy to understand and for most, they make good sense.
What this planner attempts to do is answer a simple question: have I got enough? It takes your pensions, ISAs, savings, and other income sources, runs them through growth and UK tax engines, and shows you what your retirement income could look like — based on what you tell it.
Scenario based planning, at your own pace. Asking yourself the daft 'what-if' questions. Looking again. Reworking. Making mistakes. Taking some time to think again without the pressure of others allows you to dream big or simply to be comfortable and confident in what the future can be.
The value is in the iteration. Run a plan. Adjust an assumption. Run it again. The numbers are not the point — the thinking you do around them is.
You may conclude you know enough to set and forget. Or it might just leave you with more questions than a planning tool can answer. You might want to seek out professional financial advice — and I'd say that is a good thing.
Worth reminding you here: this tool does not constitute financial advice. It can never be such because it doesn't know who you are, or what your circumstances are. Information presented here are your inputs projected back at you.
Stay curious.