Retirement & Pensions · Bath

Retirement & pension planning.

The biggest decision-set most clients face: when to retire, how to draw an income, and what the next thirty years actually need — through markets, longevity, and a tax landscape that doesn’t sit still. For clients across Bath, Bristol and the South West.

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30
years — a modern retirement can last three decades or more. The question is whether your pension is built to cover it.
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A pension isn’t a product you buy once. It’s an income you’ll draw for thirty years — and the difference between a good plan and no plan is measured in decades.

A quick illustration

Will your pension last?

Set a pot size, the income you’d want, and an assumed growth rate to see roughly how long the money could last. Illustrative — the real answer comes from proper cashflow modelling.

£500,000
£0£1m£2m
£30,000 a year
£0£60k£120k
Assumed annual growth
How long it could last
about 37 years
On these assumptions, a £500,000 pot drawing £30,000 a year could last around 37 years.
a 30-year retirement
Pension pot£500,000
Annual income drawn£30,000
Assumed annual growth5%
Could last around37 years

Illustrative only — not personal advice or a forecast. Assumes a constant growth rate and a level income, and ignores inflation, tax, charges and the fact that real returns vary year to year. A poor run of markets early in retirement matters more than this simple projection can show — which is exactly why proper cashflow modelling does.

i. · What this includes

Six parts of a retirement plan.

Not every client needs all of them. The plan starts with your position and uses what earns its place.

i.

Lifetime cashflow modelling

Your income, obligations and goals mapped across the rest of your life, then stress-tested against shocks and longer-than-expected longevity.

ii.

Drawdown strategy

How to take an income tax-efficiently, in the right order from the right pots, without running the well dry too soon.

iii.

Pension consolidation review

Whether bringing scattered pots together actually helps. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t — shown with the numbers.

iv.

State pension & NI gaps

Checking your forecast and any National Insurance gaps worth filling. You can normally only fill the last six tax years, so gaps age out quietly if nobody looks.

v.

Annual Allowance & Scheme Pays

Staying the right side of the £60,000 annual allowance, including carry forward and the tapered rules that catch higher earners.

vi.

Sequence-of-returns planning

Protecting the early years of drawdown, when a bad run of markets does the most lasting damage to a pot.

ii. · Who this is for

If any of these is you, it’s worth a look.

—Five years out, wanting to know if you can afford to
—Recently retired with multiple pots to pull together
—Considering early or phased retirement
—NHS, public-sector or defined-benefit scheme members
—Business owners selling up and crystallising wealth
—Anyone unsure their workplace pension is enough
iii. · My approach

A plan that holds up under scrutiny.

Cashflow modelling is the foundation. We map your income, your obligations and your goals across the rest of your life.

Then we stress-test the plan against market shocks, longevity beyond your expectation, and the tax changes history says are coming.

You walk away with a plan that holds up under scrutiny — not one that only works if the next thirty years go exactly to script.

If you want the thinking behind it, I have written about how long a pension really needs to last, about the five years before retirement and the damage a bad start can do, and about the April 2027 inheritance tax change. The wrapper and allowance side sits with tax-efficient planning, and how the money is actually invested with investment management.

— Andrew

Changing on 6 April 2027

Unused pension funds come into the inheritance tax net.

For deaths on or after 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and pension death benefits will be counted as part of your estate for inheritance tax, under the Finance Act 2026. Death-in-service benefits from a current employer are excluded, and the spouse and civil partner exemption still applies. Reporting and payment fall to your personal representatives, not the pension scheme. For many people this changes the order in which pots should be drawn — and for some it reverses the long-standing advice to spend other money first. The change explained in plain English.

iv. · Common questions

Retirement, in plain English.

There’s no single figure — it depends on the income you want and how long it has to last. As a rough guide, many planners talk about needing 20 to 25 times your annual spending in invested assets, on top of the State Pension. Cashflow modelling replaces the rule of thumb with a number built around your life.
Often, yes — but “can I afford to?” is the real question. We model your pots, the State Pension and your spending to show whether early or phased retirement holds up, and what it costs you later.
Sometimes. Bringing pots together can cut cost and simplify drawdown — but some older pensions carry guarantees or low charges worth keeping. I’ll show you the numbers either way, and never consolidate for its own sake.
Defined-benefit pensions are valuable and usually best kept. Transferring out is rarely the right call and is tightly regulated: where the transfer value of safeguarded benefits exceeds £30,000, taking regulated advice is a legal requirement. Where a transfer genuinely warrants analysis, it is done with great care and full disclosure.
Normally from age 55. That rises to 57 on 6 April 2028, and it is a cliff edge rather than a phased change — if you are 55 or 56 on that date you will generally have to wait until 57 unless you hold a protected pension age. You can usually take 25% as a tax-free lump sum, subject to the Lump Sum Allowance of £268,275. How and when you draw it is where the planning earns its keep.
Until 5 April 2027, most unused pension funds sit outside your estate for inheritance tax. For deaths on or after 6 April 2027 that changes: most unused funds and death benefits will be counted as part of the estate, under the Finance Act 2026. Death-in-service benefits from a current employer are excluded and the spouse and civil partner exemption still applies, but reporting and payment become the responsibility of your personal representatives rather than the pension scheme. It is a good reason to revisit the order in which you draw from different pots. I have written about it in full here.
Usually only for the last six tax years. The extended window that allowed people to fill gaps going back to 2006 closed on 5 April 2025 and has not been reopened, so the oldest year most people can now pay for is 2020/21. A voluntary Class 3 year costs £18.40 a week in 2026/27 and can be very good value against the extra State Pension it buys — but check your forecast first, because not every gap is worth filling.

This page, and the estimate on it, are general educational information about retirement and pensions. They are not personal financial advice and do not take account of your individual circumstances. A pension is a long-term investment; its value can fall as well as rise and it is not normally accessible until age 55, rising to 57 on 6 April 2028.

Risk warnings. The value of investments and any income from them can fall as well as rise. You may get back less than you invest. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change.

Figures. Allowances and rates shown are for the 2026/27 tax year. Announced future changes are stated with the date they take effect. Sources: HMRC pension schemes rates and gov.uk voluntary National Insurance.

Andrew Daw is an Appointed Representative of Saltus Wealth Partnership Limited (FCA FRN 449607), trading as Duchy IFA. For UK residents only.

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Begin with a conversation.

A complimentary 30 minutes, by phone, video or in person in Bath. We’ll look at your pots, your timeline and the income you want — and whether the numbers hold up. No obligation, no pitch.

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