When the plan runs short

A plan runs short in any year whose spending cannot be paid for, even after every pot Landfall may draw, the emergency fund included. The shortfall is the spending left unfunded.

• A gap that closes. Some years are short, then an income starts or spending falls and the plan is paid for again. The State Pension, a final salary or career average pension, or a later spending phase can each close one.
• A gap with money in a pension. No pension is drawn before its owner’s earliest drawing age, set in Edit plan, so a plan can run short while a pension still grows.
• A gap to the end. The pots are empty and the income left is below spending, so the shortfall runs on to the plan’s last year.

1. The verdict names the first short year, and the Shortfall figure what is unfunded in all.
2. The timeline marks where the shortfall starts and ends, beside each retirement and State Pension.
3. The funding chart draws each year’s unfunded part in red, beside the income and pots that paid for the rest.
4. The assets chart shows which pots are empty by then, and which still hold money.

A shortfall moves with what the plan is made of: when each of you stops work, what you spend and when, what the pots hold and make, and when each pension starts.