A worked example of the Financial Plan for an invented couple: their position, their projection, the stress tests and their actions for the next ninety days.
The growth, inflation, life expectancy and tax assumptions in every Financial Plan projection, the reason for each, and how to change them.
Why the big round retirement numbers mislead, and how to work out your own figure in about ten minutes.
What stopping at 60 costs compared with 62 or 65, why the years before the State Pension cost most, and how to find out where you stand.
The 4% rule, where it came from, its limits for a UK retirement, and what determines a sustainable withdrawal rate.
For owners whose retirement plan depends on a company that has not been valued: the four realistic endings, and what each does to your plan.
How much the State Pension is, when it arrives, why a forecast can show less than the full amount, and what it does to a retirement plan.
Sequence of returns risk: why two people with identical average returns can run out of money more than a decade apart, and how a plan measures it.
The 25% stays available after 55, you can take it in slices, and a worked example of clearing a mortgage with it.
The four numbers that decide it, why a business changes the arithmetic, and a worked example of a £3.15m estate — including what the 2027 pension change does to it.
What combining old pensions changes, the guarantees lost on transfer, what charges cost over ten years, and where the law makes advice compulsory.
The six-times-salary rule quoted at 50, what it leaves out, and how to work out your own number from your spending, other income and stop date, with a worked example.
Overpaying the mortgage or paying into a pension, worked through with tax relief, guarantees and access, and a comparison on £500 a month.
Scotland runs six income tax bands, and the 42% higher rate starts at £43,663, over six and a half thousand pounds below where the rest of the UK's 40% band begins. The cost on a pension withdrawal, with a worked £80,000 example.
Wales replaced stamp duty with its own property tax in 2018, on its own bands, collected by the Welsh Revenue Authority — and completing a downsize before the old home sells pushes you onto a rate roughly double the normal one. The cost on a £280,000 move, and the three-year window to get it back.
Two years at home and five on three days a week, worked through: what it does to a pension at 67, how to protect the State Pension, and how couples share the cost.
What dropping to three days a week does to take-home pay, pension and the household budget, worked through for someone who cuts their hours to care for a parent.
Two retirement dates, two pensions and one household budget: how to work out whether one partner stopping early works for both of you.
Northern Ireland has no council tax. Every home pays rates set on a value Land & Property Services assigned to it for 1 January 2005, so a cheaper new house can carry a bigger bill than the one you're leaving. A worked example on a Belfast downsize, and the 20% discount that's easy to miss.
Scotland replaced stamp duty with Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in 2015, and completing a downsize before the old home sells adds an extra 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement on the whole price, repayable only if the old home sells within three years. The cost on a £300,000 move, and the 36-month window to get it back.
Wales has had the power to set its own income tax since 2019 and has used it every year to match the rest of the UK, so a £60,000 pension withdrawal is taxed the same in Cardiff as in Leeds — £1,750 less than the same withdrawal would cost a Scottish taxpayer. What the Senedd could still change, and the worked numbers.
Read can I afford to stop at 60 first, because the years before the State Pension arrives decide most of the cost of going early. Then read the State Pension guide, which covers the other half of that arithmetic.
How much do I need to retire works backwards from what you spend, and explains why the familiar rules of thumb give such different answers.
Read the safe withdrawal guide, then why the order of returns matters, which explains sequence of returns risk.
What happens to my business when I stop covers retirement plans that depend on selling or handing on a company.
The tax-free cash guide. Tax-free cash is not use-it-or-lose-it, and you do not have to take it in one go.
What an inheritance tax bill looks like, worked through on a £3.15m estate. For business owners it covers the £2m taper: business property relief does not reduce the estate for that test, which can cost £140,000 of allowance.
Should I combine my old pensions. Four facts decide it for each pot separately: the charge, whether anything is guaranteed, any exit penalty, and what moving it would give up.
How much should I have saved by 50 explains why the six-times-salary rule says little about your own position, and what decides the number.
Every assumption we use is published, and a worked plan shows a complete Financial Plan before you buy one.
Overpay the mortgage, or pay into the pension? works through the arithmetic for £500 a month, including the effect of an unclaimed employer or company match.
Scottish income tax and your retirement drawdown. Scotland has six bands where the rest of the UK has three, a 42% rate that starts over six thousand pounds earlier than the rest of the UK's 40%, and what that costs on an £80,000 withdrawal.
Welsh income tax and your retirement drawdown. Wales has the same power Scotland uses to charge more, and has set its rate to match the rest of the UK every year since 2019 — a £1,750 difference on a £60,000 withdrawal against the Scottish bands, and what the Senedd could still change.
Downsizing in Wales and Land Transaction Tax. Wales has its own property tax and bands, and a chain-timing trap can turn a clean £170,000 release into a £14,650 cash problem on completion day.
Downsizing in Northern Ireland and domestic rates. Rates are set on a 2005 valuation, not today's price, so a cheaper new home can carry a higher bill, with the 20% discount that's easy to miss.
Downsizing in Scotland and the Additional Dwelling Supplement. Complete the purchase before the old home sells and an extra 8% applies to the whole price, repayable only if the old home sells within three years.
These guides describe how the rules work and what different choices do to a projection. They do not recommend products, providers or a course of action, because Buzz is not authorised to give regulated advice. Where a decision needs regulated advice, the guides say so.
An hour with a planner on whether the Financial Plan suits your position.
A written plan: every year to age 100 with UK tax applied, each risk measured in years, and your next ninety days.