A couple retiring within eighteen months, holding a combined £860,000 across pensions and ISAs, needed a reliable £34,000 net income and were anxious about market falls in the first years.
The problem
Their existing allocation was 92% equity. A poor first three years of drawdown at that weighting would have caused permanent damage to the plan.
What we did
- Modelled sustainable income under a range of return scenarios
- Built a three-year income buffer in short-dated bonds and cash
- Reduced overall equity weighting to a level matching their capacity for loss
- Sequenced withdrawals across ISA and pension for tax efficiency
- Set an annual review to top the buffer back up in positive years
Outcome
Target income delivered with a materially lower probability of depletion.