Free calculator
Pension drawdown calculator
The age your pot lasts to, simulated month by month - with the State Pension arriving visibly, and the bridge years before it priced honestly.
Your numbers
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Updated for the 2026/27 tax year
How does this pension drawdown calculator work?
It simulates your retirement one month at a time and shows the age your pot lasts to - with the State Pension arriving visibly, and everything in today’s money so £2,200 a month buys the same lifestyle at 60 as at 90.
Step 1
Grow, then spend
Each month your pot earns growth after fees and inflation, then pays out your monthly spending in full.
Step 2
The State Pension arrives
From your State Pension age the pot receives £12,547.60 a year, which immediately reduces what it has to cover.
Step 3
Read off the age
The headline is the age at which the pot hits zero - or “100+” if it outlives the chart.
The chart tells the story most drawdown calculators hide. The slope is steep during the bridge years - between retiring and your State Pension - because your pot carries everything alone. At your State Pension age the slope visibly flattens: from that point on, £12,547.60 a year of your spending is covered for life. If the line hits the floor before the flattening, your plan has a bridge problem, not a forever problem.
What does it assume, and why?
The same deliberately cautious defaults used across MyRetireAge, every one of them editable under “Adjust assumptions”.
Growth scenarios
3 / 5 / 7%
Cautious, Balanced and Adventurous, before charges. Retirees often hold more defensive portfolios than savers, so consider Cautious your stress test.
Inflation and fees
2.5% + 0.4%
Inflation slightly above the Bank of England’s 2% target, and fees of a low-cost index fund plus platform.
Real returns
0.1 / 2 / 4%
What the three scenarios leave after inflation and fees - the growth in purchasing power, not the number on a statement.
State Pension
£12,547.60/yr
The full new State Pension - £241.30 a week in 2026/27 - from age 67, which covers most people retiring in the next decade.
Chart horizon
Age 100
The chart plans to 100, because running out at 85 is not a plan.
Spending
Today's £
Your monthly figure keeps its purchasing power for life - the withdrawal rises with inflation so the lifestyle never quietly shrinks.
How long will your pension pot last? Worked examples
Three retirements, run through the same engine as the calculator above - every figure locked to it by automated tests.
£300,000 at 60, £2,200/mo
Age 79 on Balanced
The default. Seven bridge years cost £184,800 of self-funded spending, leaving £147,204 when the State Pension arrives at 67. The same plan on Cautious growth ends at 75; trimming spending to £2,000 extends it to 84. Small changes, large swings: that’s the nature of drawdown.
Margaret, 58 - £450,000, £2,400/mo
Age 86 on Balanced
Her nine-year bridge costs £259,200 - over half the pot - but she still reaches State Pension age with £255,648. Note what the bridge did: retiring just two years earlier than the default example needed £150,000 more pot for seven more years of funded life.
£250,000 at 66, £2,000/mo
Age 92 on Balanced
With only a one-year bridge (£24,000), the State Pension does heavy lifting almost immediately. Working even a little past the bridge is the single most powerful lever in drawdown.
How can you make a pot last longer?
Four levers, in rough order of power.
- Shorten the bridgeEach year closer to your State Pension age saves a full year of self-funded spending at the most expensive end of the plan.
- Trim the monthly number£100 a month is £1,200 a year the pot never has to produce.
- Mind the fees0.6% saved compounds inside a pot you’re drawing from for 30 years.
- Check your State Pension recordFilling National Insurance gaps before you need the income is often the cheapest income you’ll ever buy.
If you haven’t retired yet, the retirement age calculator runs this whole simulation in reverse - and the compound interest calculator shows what today’s saving builds the pot in the first place.
Common questions
How long will £300,000 last in drawdown?
On our default assumptions - retiring at 60, spending £2,200 a month in today’s money, Balanced growth, full State Pension from 67 - a £300,000 pot lasts to age 79. Spend £200 a month less and it reaches 84; on the Cautious scenario it runs out at 75. The honest answer is always a range, which is why the scenario toggle exists. Our guide to whether £500,000 is enough runs a larger pot through the same maths.
What is pension drawdown?
Keeping your pension pot invested after you retire and withdrawing an income from it, rather than handing it to an insurer for an annuity. Your money keeps growing, but it can also run out - which is exactly the risk this calculator makes visible.
Is this the same as the 4% rule?
Related, but more honest for the UK. The 4% rule is a US rule of thumb for a flat withdrawal rate. We simulate your actual spending month by month, add the State Pension when it arrives (which the 4% rule ignores), and price the bridge years before it explicitly. For UK retirees the State Pension changes the answer substantially - £12,547.60 a year of it in 2026/27.
Does this include the State Pension?
Yes, and you can see it working in the chart: the downward slope flattens at your State Pension age because £1,046 a month of your spending is suddenly covered for life. We assume the full new State Pension from 67 by default - both are editable under “Adjust assumptions”, and your real forecast is free at gov.uk.
What about tax on my withdrawals?
Not modelled yet - treat your monthly spending as what you need after tax. Normally 25% of a pension pot can be taken tax-free and the rest is taxed as income when withdrawn, so if most of your spending comes from a pension rather than ISAs, add a margin of roughly 10-15% around basic-rate levels of spending.
What if markets crash early in my retirement?
That’s sequence-of-returns risk, and it’s the biggest weakness of any smooth-growth projection, including ours: a bad first five years hurts far more than the same crash later, because you’re selling investments at low prices to fund spending. Stress-test by using the Cautious scenario and by keeping a year or two of spending in cash - and treat our answer as a planning estimate, not a guarantee.
Should I use drawdown or buy an annuity?
Drawdown keeps flexibility and any leftover pot passes to your estate; an annuity trades the pot for a guaranteed income for life, removing the running-out risk entirely. Many people mix the two - annuitise enough to cover essentials, draw down the rest. It’s a genuinely personal decision where regulated advice earns its fee.
Is my data stored anywhere?
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser and nothing you type is sent to our servers. If you choose to email yourself the results, we send your email address and the link to your scenario - that’s the only data that leaves the page, and only when you ask.
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