Planning ahead how to take tax free cash

af1963

This site, and others similar, is the closest I currently get to a financial advisor !

I've been quite happy to take my own decisions ( for good or ill, and I've had a few of each) while building up the funds, I will need to get more familiar with the potentially different choices to be made now.  Less reason to be in higher risk/reward investments, more benefit in more 'defensive' areas. 

Others might construct a cash flow ladder using their spending estimates for future years and keep first 2-3 years in cash, next 3 years in a fairly safe asset mix, next 5 in something a bit riskier and anything over 10 years in 100% equities, or something along those lines.

That's roughly where I am now but will probably move to a greater proportion in safer places, even at the expense of minimal growth or even small predictable real-terms loss of value. But that's a different topic to consider.