Project your pension pot at retirement, estimate your 4% drawdown income, and see your UK State Pension forecast in today's money. Enter your current pot, annual contribution, expected growth rate, years to retirement, and National Insurance qualifying years.
This is a projection calculator, not financial advice. Figures are illustrative and depend entirely on your inputs.
A defined contribution pension pot grows through a combination of your contributions, employer contributions, tax relief, and investment returns. The more years you contribute and the higher the growth rate, the larger the pot at retirement. Unlike a defined benefit (final salary) pension, the income in retirement depends entirely on how large the pot is and how you choose to draw from it.
The minimum age to access your defined contribution pension is currently 55, rising to 57 in April 2028. This is distinct from the State Pension age, which is currently 66 (rising to 67 between 2026 and 2028). You may be able to draw on your pension pot well before you receive the State Pension.
Enter your current pension pot, annual contribution, expected annual growth rate, years to retirement, and your National Insurance qualifying years. Click Calculate to see your projected pot at retirement, your estimated annual income at a 4% drawdown rate, your UK State Pension in today's money, and the combined annual income.
The pot projection uses compound growth: each year, your contribution is added and the annual growth rate is applied to the total. The State Pension estimate is based on your NI qualifying years — you need 35 years for the full new State Pension of £11,973 per year (2025/26 rate, in today's money).
This calculator projects nominal (not inflation-adjusted) growth. Contributions are added annually at the start of each year before growth is applied. No tax relief, platform fees, or charges are deducted — the growth rate you enter should be your assumed after-charges net rate. Employer contributions are not modelled separately; include them in your annual contribution figure.
The annual allowance cap of £60,000 is applied to the total annual contribution. Carry-forward of unused allowances is not modelled. The State Pension figure is expressed in today's money using the 2026/27 new State Pension rate (£241.30/week × 52 = £12,547.60/year) and does not include future uprating via the triple lock. These figures are for planning purposes only and are not financial advice.
The amount in your pension pot at retirement depends on how much you have already saved, how much you contribute each year, the growth rate your investments achieve, and how many years you have until retirement. This calculator projects your pot using compound growth and adds an estimate of your UK State Pension (in today's money) based on your National Insurance qualifying years. Use this projection as a starting point, then adjust the growth rate and contribution to see how sensitive the outcome is to your assumptions.
The pension annual allowance is the maximum you can contribute to pensions in a tax year and still receive tax relief. For 2025/26 it is £60,000 (or 100% of your earnings if lower). Contributions above this limit are subject to an annual allowance charge. This calculator caps the annual contribution at £60,000 and flags if your input exceeds it. Carry-forward of unused allowance from previous years is not modelled here.
The minimum pension access age for defined contribution pensions (e.g. SIPPs and workplace pensions) is currently 55. This is rising to 57 in April 2028 under the Pension Schemes Act 2021 — though individuals who had a right to access at 55 before a certain date may retain that right. The State Pension age is currently 66 for both men and women, rising to 67 between 2026 and 2028. These are different ages — you may be able to access your pension pot before you qualify for the State Pension.
Yes — this calculator includes an estimate of your UK State Pension in today's money alongside your pot projection. The State Pension figure is based on your National Insurance qualifying years: you need at least 10 qualifying years to receive anything, and 35 qualifying years for the full new State Pension (£12,547.60 per year in 2026/27, equivalent to £241.30 per week). The figure is shown in today's money and does not account for future uprating via the triple lock.
The 4% drawdown figure in this calculator shows how much annual income you could draw from your pension pot each year if you withdrew 4% of the pot annually. This is sometimes called the '4% rule' or 'safe withdrawal rate', originating from US research (the Trinity Study, 1994) that found a 4% withdrawal rate from a diversified portfolio had a high historical success rate over 30-year periods. It is not a guaranteed income — actual sustainability depends on investment returns, inflation, and how long you live. For a long retirement (25+ years), many financial planners prefer a lower withdrawal rate of 3–3.5%.
Planning for financial independence? The FIRE calculator projects the pot size needed to live off investment returns and estimates years to reach it. To model tax-free savings growth, use the ISA calculator. For the maths of compounding without the retirement framing, the compound interest calculator gives a year-by-year breakdown. To see how much of your salary you take home after tax, use the salary after tax calculator.
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