The UK’s largest pensioner payment provider has launched a free app to help savers make more considered use of the pension freedoms they are now afforded.

Equiniti believe that with options to drawdown your pension, and retirement typically lasting 17 years, it is critical that people have freedom but also make educated choices so that they can calculate how long their pension pot will last and not run out of money.

Equiniti developed the RetireMe app in response to the way savers have reacted to new pensions freedoms, with £1.8b already withdrawn from pension funds since they came on stream in April and very real concerns that savers could unwittingly draw too much and leave themselves without adequate funds in their later years.

RetireMe, which is available free from the iOS App Store, helps users to calculate how long a pension pot will last if savers withdraw their desired income. The app also enables savers to calculate the annual income that can be drawn from the pot given a set period of time. Both calculations take into account fully adjustable investment growth and fund charges.

Additionally, it allows those approaching retirement to model their income options but also allows those midway through their careers to plan for the future. Likewise it enables those already in retirement to predict future cash flows given periods of high or low withdrawals.

Richard Llambias, head of product strategy for Equiniti said: “Anybody with a defined contribution pension now has far greater freedom over how they choose to take an income or lump sum from their pension.

“With these greater freedoms comes the challenge of understanding how long their pension fund is going to last. RetireMe has been designed to meet this challenge. It will help people understand how long their pension fund might last them and the estimated annual income that they might expect to receive from it.

“Equiniti is leading the industry in member self-service engagement, which is good news for our clients and really underlines our credentials as a fintech business.”

A number of additional features are already in plan for the app as well as an Android version.