Building a war chest to retire abroad

Linton, age 58, is looking to move abroad and needs £25,000 income.

He says: "I am 58 and my wife 43. We are both currently employed by my small IT consultancy firm, earning around £12,000 each in salaries and sharing £30,000 net dividends. We are contributing £240 each month from our salaries into each of our self-invested personal pensions (Sipps), with a further contribution from the company of £9,000 each a year. There could potentially be further company pension contributions as there have been no pension contributions in the past several years. We have no other savings, and our outgoings consume more or less all of our personal income.

We are aiming to move abroad in three to five years time to retire, and are looking for an income between us of around £25,000 a year. We have no children or other family, so plan on using a gradual drawdown of capital so as to minimise the value of our estate when we die.

I have a preserved civil service pension that starts paying when I'm 60 with a lump sum of £7,000 and monthly pension of £150, while my wife has a preserved local authority pension that will start when she is 60 with a lump sum of £3,000 and monthly pension of £80.

Our house is worth about £450,000 and will release about £150,000 of capital when we move at the time of my retirement."