Retirement Planner

Can you afford to wait?

When considering saving for retirement you may have thought about how much income you will need. However, have you given any thought to whether the payments you propose to make to your plan will be sufficient to help you achieve your desired retirement income?

Why not try using our Retirement Planner? This has been designed to allow you to view the projected retirement income based on your and your employer's payments to your pension plan, against the desired income you would like to receive at retirement.

Will the payments I make achieve my desired retirement income?

Our Retirement Planner will show you any potential shortfall between your projected retirement income and your desired target retirement income.

What happens if a shortfall is identified?

You can then choose to view the effects on your desired pension income by increasing/decreasing the payments you propose to make or by altering the age at which you wish to retire.

What are you waiting for?

To view your pension projections, please click on the 'get started' button below and enter the details on the following screen. Initially, the target retirement income field will default to 75% of your gross annual salary up to a maximum target of Ł70,000; however, you will be able to alter the target income field, initial payment levels, and retirement age by overtyping the amounts or by using the sliders to increase or decrease the amounts.

The retirement age field will also default to a retirement age of 65, which will allow you the option of including/excluding the basic state pension from your projections. The earliest age from which you can choose to take your Basic State Pension is 65 if you are a male and 60 if you are a female in this illustration. If you select an earlier retirement age than this, Basic State Pension will not be included in your projections.

You may also wish to include other yearly income from a chosen age, or a lump sum payment into your pension. More information can be found in the help boxes next to these inputs.

Important notes and assumptions are detailed below this screen and the Retirement Planner screen. Please use the scroll bar at the side of the screen to view this information.

Important notes

These figures are only illustrative and do not take into account any existing pension plans that you may currently hold with Standard Life.
This illustration shows, in today's prices, the pension that might be payable when you retire. This means that we have allowed for future inflation to give you an indication of how much you would be able to buy with your pension if it were payable today.
Your State Pension Age currently depends on when you were born and whether you are a male or female. Please see https://www.gov.uk/calculate-state-pension for calculating State Pension Ages. State Pension Ages are in a transition period where the State Pension Age is gradually increasing towards age 68 and the Tool currently reflects these transitions. The Government has recently announced proposals to link the future State Pension Age to longevity expectations with a review to be carried out every 5 years, and notification of a change to be given 10 years.
If you retire earlier than your State Pension age, your projected income on retiral will not include Basic State Pension.
The value of your investments can vary from this illustration. As such, these figures are not guaranteed.
These figures do not take into account any tax you may incur if the fund(s) in your pension plan exceeds the Lifetime Allowance. More information can be found in the Tax section below.
All firms use the same rates to show how funds may be converted into pension income.

Tax

The Government changed the tax regime for pensions on 6 April 2006. In the new regime the maximum permitted payment you can make to a pension which is eligible for tax relief is the greater of your relevant UK earnings (annual salary) subject to the Annual Allowance or £3,600 each year. These limits are set by HM Revenue and Customs and apply to the total payments made by you and any third party (including your employer) to all your pension arrangements.

There is also an Annual Allowance for tax relief on payments that you, your employer and any third party can make to all pension arrangements. The Annual Allowance for the tax year 2013/14 is set at £50,000. Payments above the Annual Allowance may be subject to a tax charge (depending on previous years pension payments) at an individual's marginal tax rate. The Government announced in the 2012 Autumn Statement proposals to reduce the Annual Allowance to Ł40,000 for the tax year commencing 2014/15.

There is a HM Revenue & Customs limit known as the Lifetime Allowance. This is the total value of all pension benefits you can take in your lifetime without paying a tax penalty. Anything over the current Lifetime Allowance limit may be subject to a tax charge. The rate of the Lifetime allowance charge depends on how benefits are taken. For more information regarding the Lifetime Allowance please click here

Tax rules and legislation may change. The value of tax relief may change and will depend on your financial circumstances. The information we have given is based on our understanding of law and HM Revenue & Customs practice at 6th April 2013.

Assumptions

The illustrations assume an annual growth rate of 7% and an annual management charge of 1%, and a 0.52% rebate until you retire. A higher (or lower) annual management charge may apply depending on the actual funds your pension is invested in. In addition there may be consultancy or adviser charges. If the total level of charges after allowing for any discounts is higher (or lower) than 0.48% then your projected income would be lower (or higher) than the figure shown here.
A higher (or lower) annual management charge may apply if your choice of invested fund(s) is different. In this case, your projected income would be lower (or higher) than the figure shown here.
A lower (or higher) rebate may also apply if your choice of fund(s) is different. Your projected income would be lower (or higher) than the figure shown here if a lower (or higher) rebate applies.
The growth rate suitable for your choice of funds may also be lower than the rate used in this illustration. If a lower rate applies, the projected income would be lower than the figure shown here.
We have also assumed nil commission. If commission is payable, your projected income would be lower than the figure shown here.
When determining the values in today’s terms we have assumed inflation in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) of 2.5% each year.
We have assumed an exact number of years between your ‘age next birthday’ and retirement age, and not allowed for any partial year.
Your payments into this plan are based on a percentage of salary and are assumed to increase at 4% each year.
Your employer’s payments are based on your payments as a percentage of salary subject to a minimum payment and a notional earnings cap where applicable. See below for details on your employer’s payment structure.
The notional earnings cap for tax year 2013/2014 is set at Ł141,000 and will increase in line with the Retail Prices Index, assumed at 2.5% each year, rounded up to the next multiple of Ł600.
Increases in the notional earnings cap and salary escalation are assumed to take place at the end of each year with the first increase in escalation being a year from the later of 1 April 2010 and the date you project your pension. This may differ from actual salary review dates.
For members making payments of 5% and above, a minimum employer payment of Ł1500 p.a. will be applied. These payments will be applied pro rata for part time employees.
Your first pension payment will be paid on your birthday during the year of retirement and will be paid every month from this date until you die.
Your pension will alter in line with the Retail Prices Index, assumed at 2.5% each year from the time you start taking it.
When you retire you will be married to someone three years younger than you (if you are male) or to someone three years older than you (if you are female).
If you die within 5 years of receiving your pension, we will continue to pay it until the end of the 5 year period.
We have assumed a full married couple’s Basic State Pension allowance assuming you have a spouse who does not claim the Basic State Pension in his/her own right. If your spouse is entitled to a full Basic State Pension or you do not have a spouse, your Basic State Pension would be less than the figure used in this illustration by £3,432.00 per year.
With effect from 6 April 2012, the Basic State Pension will rise each year in line with average earnings, prices or 2.5%, whichever is greater. For the purposes of this calculator, we have assumed a yearly rise of 2.5% in the Basic State Pension.
We have assumed the full time working hours per week is 36 hours.

State Pension

It should be noted that the Government announced in January 2013 proposals that would make significant changes to the State Pension. The key proposals are:

Introduce a new, flat-rate state pension worth Ł144 a week in today’s prices will be introduced in April 2017 at the earliest;
only available to people reaching their state pension age from April 2017, so existing pensioners not included;
the number of qualifying years an individual will need to build up to get the increased State Pension will increase from 30 to 35 years;
a person will need to have at least 10 years of National Insurance contributions or NI credits in order to qualify for the new state pension;
the payment will be based on individual qualification, without the facility to inherit or derive rights to the state pension from a spouse or civil partner;
future rises in the state pension age will be linked to longevity;
future increases in Basic State Pension will still be linked to triple-lock in that will increase the State Pension by the greater of price inflation, earnings growth or 2.5%
still allow people to defer taking their state pension, though the lump sum option will no longer be available;

BT does not take any responsibility for the content or output of the Retirement Planning Tool provided by Standard Life

For former SLFPP (Syntegra Limited Flexible Pension Plan) members only

Your Payment (% of pensionable salary)	Your Employer’s Payment (% of pensionable salary from 1 April 2010)
2	3
3	4.5
4	6
5	8
6	8.5
7	9
8+	9

For former BTRP (BT Retirement Plan) members only

Your Payment (% of pensionable salary)	Your Employer’s Payment (% of pensionable salary from 1 April 2010)
4	6
5	8
6	8.5
7+	9

For members making payments of 5% or above, a minimum employer’s payment of Ł1500pa from 1 April 2010 will be applied. These payments will be applied pro rata for part time employees or for leavers during the year.

The notional earnings cap for tax year 2013/2014 is Ł141,000 and is assumed to increase at 2.5% each year, rounded up to the next multiple of Ł600. Your employer’s payments will be a percentage of your salary, up to the notional earnings cap.

For New Entrants (if you are neither of the above)

Your Payment (% of pensionable salary)	Your Employer’s Payment (% of pensionable salary from 1 April 2010)
5	8
6	8.5
7+	9

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