Find out if you're on track to retire comfortably - and exactly how much you need to save each month.
UK retirement saving uses three vehicles: SIPP (tax relief at marginal rate, 25% tax-free at 55+ rising to 57 from 2028), workplace pension under auto-enrolment (minimum 8% combined), and ISA (£20,000/year, tax-free in and out). HMRC's Pensions Tax Manual is the authoritative rulebook.
UK retirement planning since the 2015 pension freedoms is materially more flexible than in most countries, but the flexibility carries decisions that compound over decades. This calculator models accumulation and decumulation across the three vehicles UK residents actually use.
Vehicle 1 — SIPP / Personal Pension Contributions receive tax relief at your marginal rate (20% / 40% / 45%) up to £60,000/year (2026/27) or 100% of relevant earnings, whichever is lower. A tapered annual allowance applies for adjusted income over £260,000 (down to a £10,000 floor). 25% of the pot can be drawn as a tax-free lump sum at age 55 (rising to 57 from 6 April 2028); the remainder is taxed as income on withdrawal. The Lifetime Allowance was abolished from 6 April 2024 and replaced with the Lump Sum Allowance (£268,275) and Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance (£1,073,100). Once flexible drawdown begins, the Money Purchase Annual Allowance drops to £10,000/year.
Vehicle 2 — Workplace Pension (auto-enrolment) Minimum 8% of qualifying earnings (£6,240-£50,270) split 5% employee + 3% employer. Most employers match more — often the highest-return contribution available. Salary sacrifice, where offered, saves employee and employer NI on the contributed amount, lifting effective return by 8-13.8%.
Vehicle 3 — ISA (Stocks & Shares) £20,000/year allowance across all ISA types. Post-tax money in, tax-free growth, tax-free withdrawal — with no 25% lump-sum cap, no minimum age, and full flexibility. Best used alongside a pension, not instead of, because pension tax relief at 40-45% marginal rates is mathematically superior for higher-rate taxpayers.
Realistic UK retirement maths: - Equity returns: 4-6% real (after CPI) - Safe withdrawal rate: 3.5-4% for a 30-year horizon - State Pension full new amount 2024/25: £221.20/week (≈£11,500/year), payable from State Pension age (66 now, 67 by 2028)
For underlying rules, HMRC's Pensions Tax Manual on gov.uk and the Money and Pensions Service (MoneyHelper) retirement planner are the authoritative references.
Find out if you're on track to retire comfortably - and exactly how much you need to save each month.
A common rule of thumb is 25× your expected annual spending in retirement — the inverse of the 4% safe-withdrawal rate. If you plan to spend $40,000 a year, you need about $1 million invested. Your exact target depends on retirement age, expected real returns, inflation, and any other income such as a state pension or social security.
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This calculator implements the standard retirement growth + drawdown formula: Future value = PV × (1+r)^n + PMT × [((1+r)^n − 1) / r]. Region-specific tax and rate defaults are sourced directly from each country's primary government source and reviewed against the publication date below.
Last verified: May 2026.