Guides
The questions people ask before they plan
No fluff and no hedging. Where the honest answer is “that depends”, we say what it depends on.
No fluff and no hedging. Where the honest answer is “that depends”, we say what it depends on.
If you only read two, read what a Plan actually looks like and the assumptions behind it. Between them they tell you whether any of this is for you.
A worked example of the Plan: a real-shaped couple, their projection, what broke it, and the ninety days that followed. Invented people, real arithmetic.
Growth, inflation, life expectancy, tax — exactly what we assume in a projection, why, and how to change them. Published, because a plan you can't interrogate isn't worth having.
The honest answer to the most-asked question in personal finance — why the big round numbers are usually wrong, and how to work out yours in about ten minutes.
What stopping at 60 actually costs compared with 62 or 65, why the gap years before the State Pension dominate, and how to find out where you stand.
The 4% rule, where it came from, why it's shakier than people think in the UK, and what actually determines a sustainable withdrawal rate.
For owners whose retirement plan quietly depends on a company nobody has valued — what the options actually are, and what each does to your plan.
How much it is, when it arrives, why your forecast may be lower than you assume, and how much it's genuinely worth in a plan.
Sequence of returns risk, explained without the jargon — why two people with identical average returns can end up in completely different places.