Income drawdown or as some people refer to it “pension drawdown”, is where when you leave your pension fund invested rather than converting it to an annuity. There are always two sides to a coin and making the right choice between annuitising and income drawdown can usually be helped by seeking independent financial advice.
There are many income drawdown calculators that can be found online. These calculators let you quickly calculate how much income you can take from your pension plan using the Government Actuaries Department (GAD) rules.
You can take 25% of your pension fund as tax free cash, and leaving the remainder of your fund invested. Some people call income drawdown pension drawdown or unsecured pension.
Income Drawdown Calculator
Use our Income Drawdown Calculator to find out the maximum monthly income permitted under the GAD rules. Simple to use the Calculator will help you find the maximum pension drawdown income that you are allowed.
GAD Rules
In the meantime, you can take income as and when you need it from the fund, subject to certain Inland Revenue limits, but under GAD rules you are not obliged to take income each year. If you want, you can choose to take no income at all for as long as you like.
Since the 6th April 2011, two new drawdown products are available to replace the old unsecured pension, these new products are Capped Drawdown and Flexible Drawdown. The minimum income you can take from an pension drawdown is zero and the maximum is roughly the same as a single, level annuity would pay someone of your age.
The Income Drawdown Calculator tables below show the amount of annual income that can be derived from an Annuity and an Income Drawdown or Pension Drawdown as it is sometimes called. Rates different for a man and women.