How long will my retirement savings last?

It depends on four things: the size of your pot, how much you withdraw each month, the return your investments earn after fees, and how fast you raise withdrawals for inflation. This page simulates every month in turn, so the answer accounts for the pot shrinking as you spend it and for the withdrawal growing as prices rise.

Why does the calculator increase my withdrawal every year?

Because your spending will not stay flat. At 3 per cent inflation, the groceries and utilities that cost 4,000 a month today cost about 5,376 in ten years and 7,224 in twenty. Holding the withdrawal constant would quietly assume your standard of living falls every year, which flatters the result and understates how quickly a pot drains.

What counts as a safe withdrawal rate?

The well known 4 per cent rule, from the Trinity study, suggests drawing 4 per cent of the starting pot in the first year and then raising that amount with inflation. On a 750,000 pot that is 2,500 a month. It came from historical US stock and bond returns over thirty-year retirements, so treat it as a starting point rather than a promise.

What can I do if the money runs out too early?

You have four levers. Spend less, either permanently or by skipping the inflation rise after a poor market year. Work or earn part time for longer so the pot keeps compounding. Cut investment charges, because fees come straight off your return. Or convert part of the pot into guaranteed lifetime income such as an annuity.

Retirement Savings Withdrawal Calculator

Find out how many years your retirement pot will support you once withdrawals rise with inflation.

How long will the money last?

The pot earns a return on what is left, while the amount you take out grows every year with the cost of living. This page runs that tug of war month by month until the balance reaches zero or the horizon you set runs out.

Your Pot and Your Spending

Starting Balance ($) Total invested savings available for drawdown

Monthly Withdrawal ($) What you take out in the first year, in today's money

Return and Inflation Assumptions

Annual Return (% per year) Gross return on the remaining balance, before charges

Investment Charges (% per year) Platform and fund costs. Subtracted from the return

Inflation on Withdrawals (% per year) Your withdrawal rises by this much on each anniversary

Horizon to Test (Years) Simulation stops here. Editable — 50 years is the default cap

Your Timeline

Age at Start of Drawdown Used to show the age at which the pot runs dry

Plan the Money to Last Until Age Editable — planners often use 90 to 100, not average life expectancy

Assumptions used here

Withdrawals are taken at the start of each month and the return is applied to whatever is left, so the money you spend earns nothing that month. The monthly rate is the net annual rate divided by twelve. The withdrawal steps up once a year on the anniversary, not every month. Returns are treated as steady rather than volatile, which is the single biggest simplification on this page — see the note on sequence risk below. Tax on withdrawals is not modelled, so enter a figure that is net of any tax you expect to pay. Every default above is editable; verify charges and expected returns with your own provider.

How Long the Pot Lasts

Money Lasts

Full months of spending covered

Age When the Pot Runs Dry

Compared with your planning age

Total Withdrawn

Cash taken out over the whole period

First-Year Withdrawal Rate

Year one withdrawals as a share of the pot

Sustainable Monthly Withdrawal

The most you could take and still reach your planning age

Longevity verdict

Enter your figures to see the verdict.

Balance at each milestone

Starting balance 0

Balance after 10 years 0

Balance after 20 years 0

Balance after 30 years 0

Balance at your planning age 0

                    Total withdrawn before the pot empties
                    0
                

The engine room

Return after charges 0%

Real return after inflation 0%

Withdrawn during year one 0

Investment growth during year one 0

Monthly withdrawal in the final year 0

                    Balance at the end of year one
                    0
                

Share of your planning horizon covered 0%

How much of the retirement you are planning for the pot can pay for.

The month-by-month rule this page applies

W(m) = W₀ × (1 + inflation)^{floor(m ÷ 12)}
Balance → (Balance − W(m)) × (1 + r)
r = (annual return − charges) ÷ 12 ÷ 100
Real return = (1 + net return) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1

Longevity at Different Withdrawal Levels

Monthly Withdrawal	First-Year Rate	Money Lasts	Age It Runs Dry	Reaches Your Planning Age

Return Sensitivity at Your Chosen Withdrawal

Gross Return	Net of Charges	Money Lasts	Age It Runs Dry	Total Withdrawn

Year-by-Year Balance

Year	Age at Year End	Opening Balance	Withdrawn	Growth	Closing Balance

A steady return is the optimistic case

Real markets do not deliver the same percentage every year, and in drawdown the order of returns matters enormously. Two retirees with identical average returns can end up decades apart if one meets a bad market in the first five years, because every withdrawal during a slump sells units cheaply and those units never recover. Treat the figure above as the central path of a wide fan of outcomes, and revisit it after any year in which your pot moves sharply.

Understanding Retirement Drawdown

Sequence of Returns Risk

While you are saving, the order in which good and bad years arrive barely matters — only the average does. Once you are withdrawing, it dominates. A 20 per cent fall in year two forces you to sell a larger slice of a smaller pot to fund the same spending, and that capital is gone before the recovery arrives. This is why many retirees hold two or three years of spending in cash or short bonds, so they never have to sell equities into a fall.

Inflation Is the Quiet Drain

It compounds: at 3 per cent, spending needs roughly double in 24 years
Real return is what counts: a 4.5 per cent net return against 3 per cent inflation is only about 1.46 per cent of real growth
Late-retirement bite: the withdrawal in year 25 is around double the one in year one, against a pot that has already shrunk
Personal rates differ: healthcare and energy often rise faster than the headline index, and they are a larger share of a retiree's budget

Where the 4 Per Cent Rule Comes From

The Trinity study tested historical US stock and bond portfolios and found that drawing 4 per cent of the starting balance, then raising it with inflation, survived almost every thirty-year window. Three caveats matter. It assumes a rebalanced portfolio with a large equity weight, it ignores charges and tax, and thirty years is the test length — retiring at 55 or planning to 100 stretches the horizon well past what was measured, which argues for a lower starting rate.

Four Levers When the Numbers Fall Short

Flexible spending: skipping the inflation increase after a losing year, or trimming 10 per cent, extends a pot far more than most people expect
Time: each extra year of earning both adds to the pot and removes a year of drawdown, so it counts twice
Charges: 0.5 per cent on a 750,000 pot is 3,750 in year one alone, and it compounds against you for the whole retirement
Guaranteed income: using part of the pot to buy an annuity that covers essential bills removes the risk of outliving the money entirely