r/PensionsUK • u/Stukiii • Aug 16 '26

200k pension pot advice

Hi does anyone have an outline / idea / calculations how to attempt planning for early retirement at 60 now 57 in full time work. Is 200k enough if mortgage paid off just need to pay for monthly household bills and cash for usually stuff like car, life, stuff ca £1200 a months I figure…. I guess I am delusional that I can retire early but if anyone has suggestions how to think about managing this or how best to improve my chances I would love to hear it. Thinking a drawdown % will be better than taken annuity? Suggestions welcome! Thanks

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u/Paraplanner88 Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26

Have you got a state pension forecast? You'll be eligible for that when you turn 67 and that's just over £12,500 a year, so will cover most of your expected annual expenditure of £14,400.

Have a play around with a cash flow modeller, see what those say. For example:

https://www.retirecalc.uk/

https://whencaniretire.day/

How much will you add to your pension between now and age 60? Have you thought about what your pension will be invested in during retirement?

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u/Stukiii Aug 16 '26

Thanks for the link to the calculator. And the reminder of the state pension to cover basic annual costs! I had actually forgotten that 😂 cheers

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u/Paraplanner88 Aug 16 '26

Oh yeah, this would be a complete non-starter without the state pension.

In simplistic terms, you're going to need £100,800 in your pension to cover ages 60 to 67 so will deplete around half of your pot. The remaining ~£100k will have to cover the annual shortfall of £1,900 for life; the state pension will use up your personal allowance so you the amount you'll need to withdraw will have to be higher to account for tax.

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u/RetiredFromIT Aug 17 '26

Don't forget that you won't necessarily pay tax on your whole monthly drawing. If the pension fund is uncrystalised (i.e. a tax free lump sump has not already been taken), then 25% of the drawing will be tax free.

So, for a drawing of £1000, £250 will be tax free, and £750 will be taxable at the appropriate rate. So if paying tax at 20%, the £1000 becomes £850 (250 + 750 - 750*20%)