Built specially for flexible workers and the self employed.
The value of your pension can go up as well as down. Past performance and forecasts are not necessarily reliable indicators of future returns.
Your target monthly budget when you retire
The amount you invest over time
(At a rate of £0 per month)
Government contribution
(25% Tax relief)
Your investment could grow
(Based on an annualised return of 3.9%, inflation not taken into account)Starting a new pension is a big decision. Our savings product makes it worthwhile and easy to manage.
I'm a late-starter and worry if it is financially worth it to set up a new pension.
It's never too late to start your pension contributions and, under our scheme, HMRC gives you £25 for every £100 you invest in your pension. This means you'll see the benefit as soon as you start contributing.
My income varies and I’m worried about getting caught short due to my contribution payments.
We understand the pressures of self-employed and flexible workers, which is why our product allows you to dial up and down your contributions, based on your circumstances.
Pensions require a lot of paperwork and are hard to keep track of.
Our system is fully digital and allows you to setup and track your contributions with our easy-to use mobileapp.
I already have a pension elsewhere. It'd be confusing to add another one.
Juggling multiple plans can be unwieldy, so our system allows you to combine existing pensions into the Raindrop plan, making it easy for you to see the total size of your investment.
Easy to keep track of and manage, online or on your phone
We can help you to find your old pensions and bring them together
HMRC gives you £25 for every £100 you invest into your pension
Turn contributions off and pay in both personally, or through your limited company, as your income situation changes.
Or schedule a call with one of our pension experts that will walk you through how Raindrop works
* Pensions are a long-term investment. The retirement benefits you receive from your pension plan will depend on a number of factors including the value of your plan when you decide to take your benefits which isn’t guaranteed and can go down as well as up. The value of your plan could fall below the amount(s) paid in.
The value of the tax benefits of your pension depends on your individual circumstances. Tax rules and circumstances may change in the future.
High levels of pension encashments or income may not be sustainable and in some cases could reduce the value of your pension to zero. You should consider the impact this might have on your income in retirement.
FSCS protects customers when authorised financial services firms fail. You could be entitled to compensation of up to £85,000. FSCS protection does not cover a change in the value of your investments, however it covers you if the operations of our partners is affected.
How does this calculator work?
There are a lot of variables when it comes to calculating the income you might need at retirement. Because of this we have to make some assumptions which means this tool can never be completely accurate.
Key assumptions
Growth Rate
We apply a standard growth to your current pension value and all future contributions, on a monthly basis, at an annualized rate of 3.9%. After accounting for inflation (if you've turned this on) the effective "real" growth is 1.9%.
This is in line with industry standards as outlined by the Financial Conduct Authority.
✝ Net Contributions (Basic tax relief)
Your contributions are assumed to be net of basic tax and therefore we add the basic tax topup of 25% collected from HMRC to your pension with each contribution made.
E.g. if you selected £200 in the calculation it is assumed that an extra £50 will be added to your pension.
Note that this tax relief is not applicable to contributions made from a limited company but is likely to be corporation tax deductible.
Withdrawal Rate
Assumed withdrawal rate is initially based on 80% of your current income drawn in monthly intervals, unless you have explicitly changed this within the tool.
Inflation
Inflation is a measure of the increased cost of living in a country. This has the effect of reducing the purchasing power of your money.
In the UK this is often benchmarked to the CPIH (consumer price index including owner occupier’s housing costs).
We assume a 2% inflation rate in our calculations which is conservative compared to the current 12 month average of CPIH which can be seen here.
Other assumptions
Higher Rate Tax Relief
We assume that only the basic tax topup is added back to your pension as described above (Net Contributions). No assumptions are made on higher rate tax relief which you would have to claim back via your annual self assessment.
Please note that HMRC may change the tax treatment of pension contributions in the future. If you are ever in doubt you should speak to a professional.
Growth at Retirement
A standard growth is applied to the remainder of your pension from retirement onwards at 0.1% based on the Bank of England’s current base rate.
Monthly Contributions
We assume that you will continue to contribute the monthly amount you have indicated in the tool from today up until the month of your retirement.
Tapered Annual Allowance
For every £2 your adjusted income goes over £240,000, your annual allowance (as defined above) for the current tax year reduces by £1. The minimum reduced annual allowance you can have in the current tax year is £4,000.
Pension Commencement Lump Sum
It is assumed that no initial tax free lump sum will be taken out of your pension, and the full amount of projected pension will be taxed as income.
Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA)
This applies from the point you first access any pension benefits flexibly and is the maximum amount that can be contributed annually thereafter to money purchase pension schemes and still benefit from tax relief.
Our calculator assumes you have not accessed your pension benefits yet such that the MPAA does not apply.
Lifetime and Annual Allowance
When investing in a pension there are restrictions to how much you can contribute before no longer being eligible for tax relief.
One restriction is the lifetime allowance. This limit applies to the combined total of pension benefits that can be accrued within registered pension schemes without triggering the Lifetime Allowance charge. This is currently £1,073,100 and increases each tax year.
There is also an annual allowance which is the maximum amount that can be contributed to a pension plan each year, as specified by HMRC, and still benefit from tax relief. This is currently £40k (which includes any tax topups added to your pension).
We currently do not factor these restrictions into our calculator and they can be changed by HMRC in the future.
If I delay saving into my pension by years, my pension could be smaller and would last
If you start with £100 a month and then increase your
monthly contribution by £10 at the start of each year for 5 years, your pension could be bigger