Pensions Retirement Planning Tools - Ian Shadrick Retirement Calculator vs Voyant

[bwel]

Hi All,

Does anybody use Ian Shadrick’s Retirement Calculator Spreadsheet ? if so could you share your experiences ?
https://ianshadrack.com/retirement-calculator/


Also, has anybody used it but also used Voyant and can share practical user experience to compare them ?
https://www.planwithvoyant.co.uk/conten ... index.html


I'm currently using Voyant, but may not keep the annual subscription client licence going in to retirement as there is less need for it.

Superficially they look to aim to achieve similar purposes. I'm sure Voyant is much deeper and wider in functionality and is backed by a big team to support it and keep pace with legislation changes, however most end retirement users will not need the full depth and breadth of Voyant functionality.

Please share your experiences.

[Adamski]

Hi, I'm but skeptical of the benefits of a retirement calculator as can't predict future with certainty. My own preference is the 4% rule to give a benchmark figure of how much do I need to retire. But even then a big factor is whether you have a market correction in the early years of your retirement, so luck plays a factor (conversely can get bull market at the start and end up with too much). I think just need a figure, and go for it, when you get there.

[bwel]

These Retirement Calculator / Cash flow Planning tools are more focused on Taxation and Sequence Optimisation for spending rather than investment performance.
They don’t model investment growth other than by assumed %’s for different classes, that’s not the objective or purpose of these tools.

[Degsy67]

Take a look at Evolve My Retirement as a potential low cost planning tool alternative (no connection, occasional user).

https://evolvemyretirement.com/

Not as full featured as Voyant but a lot of similarities. It’s free to use but includes some paid options if you want to run alternate scenarios or to try to optimise your strategy. I haven’t bothered with this as I have Yorkshire blood running through my veins.

I don’t think you need to use Voyant once you’re in retirement and have your plan in place but Evolve can potentially act as a useful tool to check how your retirement plans are progressing on an occasional basis (maybe every 3 to 5 years) until you kick the planning habit and start to get comfortable that sequence of return risks have reduced.

For those people who are pre-retirement and who want to do some tool based DIY planning, it’s worth taking a look at the Meaningful Money Academy which includes a license for Voyant for a year as well as a full retirement planning course. Voyant access can be extended for £120/year beyond the first year. (No financial connection but an avid Meaningful Money podcast listener and very satisfied financial advice client).

https://meaningfulacademy.com/build-wealth/

Degsy

[DrFfybes]

These Retirement Calculator / Cash flow Planning tools are more focused on Taxation and Sequence Optimisation for spending rather than investment performance.
They don’t model investment growth other than by assumed %’s for different classes, that’s not the objective or purpose of these tools.

I will freely admit I'm not one for long term analysis and prediction, let alone for using models. The reason is not because of the sheer number of variables, but that you are also at the whim of politicians. LTA, freezing of personal allowance, Interest Rates, Inflation, Pension contribution limits, NI rates, all those have changed in the last couple of years and many will be completely different again in another 2 or 3.

You're trying to model 30+ years into the future, by which time State Pension will have been replaced by a guaranteed minimum income, ISAs will have been abolished, Interest rates will have risen to 15% and then crashed and gone negative, and the stockmarket will have been on the biggest Crash since the 1930s and then trebled again within 3 months, and income tax will be 12% of everyones income with no personal allowance, Dividends will be counted as Income, and CGT will be 25% on everything with no allowance.

I did take a close(ish) look at the graph in your first post and founds there was nowt I could see that couldn't easily be generated with Libre Office, common sense, and the back of an envelope.

Hi, I'm but skeptical of the benefits of a retirement calculator as can't predict future with certainty. My own preference is the 4% rule to give a benchmark figure of how much do I need to retire. But even then a big factor is whether you have a market correction in the early years of your retirement, so luck plays a factor (conversely can get bull market at the start and end up with too much). I think just need a figure, and go for it, when you get there.

Exactly. The risk is market returns, not what order you spend stuff. You can have all the planning in the world but if you were Bond heavy 2 years ago then I'll bet that return wasn't one of the scenarios anyone put in their planner. Save yourself the Licence fee, work out how much you want to spend each year, multiply it by 25 (or20, or30, your choice) and keep 2 year's worth in cash, spend unsheltered assets first, and get on with your life

Paul