For LifePlan’s modelling of your financial arrangements to be as accurate as possible,  you should ensure that the detail and value of your entries are updated as frequently as you can.

We recommend that you review and update your LifePlan at least once a month.

LifePlan is the name of Retireeasy's financial planning calculator that models your assets, liabilities, incomes and expenditure into the future using certain assumptions you select.

Desired Annual Income is the level of income you would like to receive in your retirement after you have paid for any mortgage, loans, debts and tax.

You will use your Desired Annual Income to pay for your fixed and variable expenses and what is left is your disposable income that you can spend or save as you wish.

Your financial affairs will never remain static and you will need to estimate how the values of your finances may change throughout your LifePlan. You can change these general assumptions at any time and you may select specific assumptions for any particular asset.

This is how much you estimate or expect the cost of living to increase by each year. You can use a Government index e.g. Consumer Price Index or you can choose your own value.  LifePlan will show you the future values of your assets and incomes after the effect of the general inflation rate you have selected. This will help you assess future values in today’s terms.

This is how much you estimate your investments to grow by each year. Most investments can fall or rise in value on a daily basis and if you are unsure of what rate to enter for any of your investments you should consult the investment provider or a financial adviser to guide you.

This is how much you estimate your investments to pay out (or re-invest) as annual income expressed as a percentage of the capital sum invested.

You may change the general assumptions or a specific assumption at any time and LifePlan will immediately re-calculate all affected values going forward.

Downsize / Equity Release is where you release all or a proportion of any equity that has accumulated in your home by either selling or re-mortgaging your home. LifePlan asks you if you wish to repay any outstanding mortgage with the equity that is released.  Note: If you plan to sell your home to fund care home costs please answer ‘no’ to Downsize and complete the Care Home Costs section in Expenditure.

A second home (or more homes) are multiple residences that you own and live in. These do not include any Buy-To-Let properties that you own – these are dealt with in the Assets and Investments section.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) could be a significant tax liability on the sale or disposal of an asset so we provide the facility for you to model such a liability in your LifePlan. However, the application of CGT is complex so we ask you to input a notional rate of CGT  based on the sale value of the asset. If you know the approximate CGT liability on the future sale of a specific asset you can select the most appropriate rate using the slider.

LifePlan cannot accurately calculate any future Capital Gains Tax liability as we do not request the purchase price or purchase date of any asset and we cannot calculate any relief that you may be entitled to in a year when an asset is sold.

Do not worry if this occurs as you may have legitimately skipped a step. Lifeplan will still calculate in most cases where progress is less than 100%.

A Private Pension plan means any pension plan where you have accumulated a fund that will be used in the future to provide an annuity or an income drawdown arrangement e.g. a Personal Pension Plan (Individual or Group), a Stakeholder Pension Plan (Individual or Group), a Defined Contribution (Money Purchase) Occupational Pension Scheme, a S32 Buy Out Plan.

A Final Salary pension plan is an Occupational Pension Scheme (or replacement Buy Out Plan) that currently or in the future will provide you with a guaranteed level of annual pension.

A SIPP is a Self Invested Personal Pension.

A SSAS is a Small Self Administered Scheme.

A State Pension is paid out by the Government.

You can get the current value of your pension plan by phoning your plan provider or by contacting your financial adviser or online, if appropriate.

LifePlan allows you to make changes to the retirement age of each of your individual pension plans at any time and can model if you plan to stagger taking your retirement benefits.

If you are unsure what level of annuity rate to specify for one or more of your pension plans you can seek advice from your financial adviser or you can view current annuity rates from the Government website moneyadviceservice.org.uk.  It is important to note that future annuity rates may be quite different from the level of annuity rates available today.

LifePlan shows you in the ‘my capital’ chart how long your SIPP will last based on the estimated rate of growth and the level of income that you have selected. You can change these factors at any time and LifePlan will immediately re-calculate any new expiry date.

If your final salary pension does not increase, select 0% using the slider.

LifePlan calculates each year how much capital you need to use to provide your Desired Annual Income. The ‘capital take’ you need uses up your available cash first, by default, before using the capital from any other of your investments. It is possible to change the order in which LifePlan uses capital take – see ‘change the order’ adjacent to the chart selection tabs.

Some stocks and shares ISAs are designed to distribute income and if you choose not to take the income it is reinvested back into the ISA. The ISA may, therefore, increase in value by the reinvested income and by any increase in the valuation of the share/stock holdings that make up the ISA.

As you are receiving tax-free income, you should enter this bond in the Assets and Other Tax-Free Savings section.

Enter these details as a Personal Investment in the Assets and Investments  section.

Enter these details as a Personal Investment in the Assets and Investments  section.

Enter these details as a Personal Investment in the Assets and Investments section.

Enter these details in the National Savings section within Assets and Investments.

LifePlan will estimate when your credit card balance and/or repayment loan will be repaid from your current balance, interest rate and expected monthly payments.

You can get this from your P60 or from your employer. Alternatively, you can estimate the annual figure by taking the NIC from one of your payslips and multiplying this  by 12.

LifePlan automatically calculates your income tax and shows your net income in the Income Breakdown chart.

This is the amount of planned income in a year that is in excess of your selected Desired Annual Income.

Please enter dividends net of income tax.

If this investment generates taxable income, enter these details as a Personal Investment in the Assets and Investments  section. If this investment generates tax-free income, enter these details in the ISA/other tax-free  investment section within Assets and Investments.

Total Net Assets in the Lifeplan Charts and in the Snapshot means 'All of your assets less any debts'.

In Lifeplan 'Liquid Assets' are Cash, Current Accounts, Deposits and those assets that can be encashed in small amounts at short notice e.g. National Savings, ISAs, Shares, Unit Trusts, Investment Funds. They exclude assets which can only be sold whole or where encashment rights are limited e.g. Home, Pension Fund, Property and Business Investments.