FAQ
Can I use this for a SIPP and a workplace pension?
Yes, if both are defined contribution. Add the current values into one pot. Final-salary and other defined-benefit pensions are not modelled.
Yes. A SIPP, a group personal pension and most auto-enrolment workplace schemes are the same kind of thing: a defined-contribution pot of invested money in your name. Oakspan does not care which provider holds it. Add the current fund values together and enter one pot.
Contributions are a single monthly personal amount and a single monthly employer amount. If two schemes are still receiving payments, add those monthly figures too. The model cannot show two different growth rates or two different retirement ages in one run — use the blend that matches the money, or run the calculator twice and read the results side by side.
What not to add in
Do not type a defined-benefit pension — final salary, career average, a public-service scheme — in as if it were a pot. Those pay an income for life based on salary and service. They do not “run out” at a depletion age, and a transfer value is not the same as a DC fund you will draw down. If you also have a DB income, put that figure in Other taxable income in retirement so the tax estimate sees it, and keep it out of the pot.
State Pension is separate, via the entitlement field. Cash ISAs, savings and the house are outside the model. Protected tax-free cash, guaranteed annuity rates and with-profits bonuses are not applied automatically.
A plain-English account of defined contribution versus a promised pension is in the guide.
Keep reading
- Previous: What tax year do the figures use?
- Next: What is a safe withdrawal rate?
- Try the numbers on the private pension calculator.
- Read the pension guide and the 2026/27 rates.