Christian Finance Academy Christian Finance Academy Lifetime Cashflow Model
Module 12 · Lifetime Planning

Will your money outlast your life?

This is the tool the whole course builds toward: a single, year-by-year picture of your entire financial future — income, spending, investments, property and debt — from today to your planning horizon. Set it once, stress-test it against the storms, then save it and come back each year to see how reality compared to the plan.

"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough to complete it?" Luke 14:28
Who is this plan for?
1About you▾
2Annual income▾
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State Pension and any defined-benefit pension are taxable income — modelled gross and taxed alongside the rest.
3Annual spending & inflation▾
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These are your actual living costs in today's money — what you spend, not what you earn. Income tax and NI are worked out separately from your gross income above. For a lifetime projection use a long-run average inflation rate — the Bank of England targets 2%; today's headline CPI (published by the ONS) is more volatile and not ideal for a 50-year plan. The mortgage and rent are added separately below.
The retirement "smile": higher spending while you're active, settling to the figure above, before care costs rise at the very end.
4Investments & home▾
Add pensions, ISAs, SIPPs and other holdings separately so each grows at its own rate. Retirement shortfalls are drawn from them. This is the money that can run out. (Pension access ages aren't modelled — treat these as your long-term pots.)
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Deducted from the returns above, every year. A typical all-in cost is ~0.5–1.5%; even 1% is a large drag once it compounds over decades.
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5Property, debt & rent▾
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When the term ends, the payment stops and that money returns to your budget. Set the balance to £0 if you own outright or rent.
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Rent continues for life — it's added to your spending every year, including in retirement (unlike a mortgage, which ends). Leave at £0 if you don't rent.
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+Regular saving & contributions ▾
By default the tool invests whatever income is left after your spending. Turn this on to instead grow your pots from the specific amounts you actually save each month — usually more realistic, and it lets you add tax relief and employer matching. Your day-to-day spending figure then stays just that: day-to-day life.
+Add property & income assets ▾
Buy-to-let, holiday lets, a second property, or other assets that earn income and hold a capital value.
+Tax assumptions ▾
Defaults are the verified 2026/27 figures for England, Wales & Northern Ireland. Every figure is editable — change them to test future Budgets. (Scotland sets its own income-tax bands; those aren't modelled here.)
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NI runs at the main rate between the personal allowance and the higher-rate threshold, then the upper rate above it. NI applies only to earned salary, not to pensions.
By default the tool lets the allowances and thresholds rise with inflation, so they stay constant in today's money. Tick this to freeze them in cash terms instead — as the Treasury has frozen the personal allowance to 2031 — so inflation quietly drags more of your income into tax over time.
+Retirement drawdown & tax ▾
In retirement, the tool draws from your pots to fund your spending after tax. Choose the blend it draws in — leaning on ISA and cash keeps more of your pension out of the taxman's reach. The three must add to 100%.
A quarter of a defined-contribution pension can normally be taken tax-free. Spread it, and every pension withdrawal is 25% tax-free / 75% taxable. Take it upfront, and a quarter of your pension moves to cash at retirement; the rest is then fully taxable when drawn. (The £268,275 lump-sum cap isn't modelled.)
+Add children's costs ▾
Module 11 · Topic 1 — growing families.
+Add later-life care ▾
Module 11 · Topic 5 — social care. Around half of those reaching 65 need some paid care.
+Charitable giving & tithing ▾
Your ongoing annual giving — a tithe or other regular gift. It's an outgoing each year, lasting for life. (Separate from one-off capital gifts to family, which sit in "Giving with warm hands" below.)
+Giving with warm hands ▾
Giving while you're alive to see the difference it makes. Gifts are drawn from your investments and reduce your estate — and its future growth.

Your financial life, year by year

Investments & pensions Net worth Income Spending Retirement
Bars (right axis) show each year's income (green outline) against spending (fill). Before retirement the outline sits above the fill — that gap is your saving. In retirement, spending above your guaranteed income is met by drawing on investments (gold); the fill turns red only in years where the investments have run dry.

The headline numbers

Stress test — what if things go wrong?

A plan that only works if everything goes right is a hope, not a plan. The combined worst case applies low returns, high inflation, severe care costs and an income shock together — the single most important scenario to survive.

Year-by-year detail

Save it & come back next year

Save as PDF gives you a readable copy of this plan — now including all your assumptions at the end. Download my plan saves a small data file (.json) that isn't meant to be opened directly — it won't display properly in Word, Excel or a browser. It's simply the file you load back in next year using Compare with last year, to see how reality measured up against your projection — the heartbeat of a living financial plan. Keep it somewhere safe alongside your PDF.
This is an illustration to support your own planning — not financial advice or a personal recommendation. It now models UK income tax and a simplified employee National Insurance on the figures you enter, with tax-aware pension drawdown — but it is deliberately simplified. It uses England, Wales & Northern Ireland rates only (Scotland differs); thresholds are held constant in today's money unless you choose the freeze (fiscal-drag) option; drawdown follows your chosen pension/ISA/cash blend rather than a tax-optimal order; and it does not model capital gains tax, the dividend or savings allowances, the money-purchase annual allowance, the £268,275 tax-free-cash cap, or inheritance tax. The means-tested care system is not modelled (care is entered as a cost). Real returns, inflation, tax rules and life events will differ, so the projection will be wrong in its details even where it is useful in its direction — hold it with open hands and review it annually. For advice tailored to your circumstances, consult an FCA-regulated financial planner; for care funding, a SOLLA-accredited specialist. Christian Finance Academy · Module 12 (with Module 11 Topics 1 & 5) · figures in today's money.