How to use it
- Drag Retire at and the spending sliders. Everything updates as you go.
- Open Pots and contributions and Pensions and income to enter your own figures and ages.
- Watch Earliest viable age and Pots run out, then switch to Year by year for the detail.
About
This is a quicker, more visual companion to the FIRE calculator. It works in real terms: one growth rate after inflation, with pensions that keep pace with inflation, so every figure is in today’s money.
Your workplace pension, SIPP and ISA grow together, and once you retire they’re drawn down in proportion to cover whatever your guaranteed income doesn’t. A defined benefit pension and its tax-free lump sum (added to the ISA) start at the age you choose, and so does the State Pension. Spending can change at a later age, since many people spend less as they get older.
Earliest viable age is the first retirement age at which the pots still have money in them at 100. Other income before retirement, such as a salary or sick pay, is shown in the table but isn’t saved. It’s a model with a steady return, not financial advice.
Questions
Why are all the pots drawn down together?
It keeps the model simple. In practice you might use the ISA first, before you can take your pension at 57 or 58. The ISA Bridge calculator looks at exactly that.
What growth rate should I use?
A real rate, after inflation. 4–5% is a common long-run assumption for a global equity portfolio; use less if you hold bonds or cash.