The best pension strategy for someone earning £80,000 with two children shouldn't be the same as a single person on the same salary. Yet that's exactly how most pension calculators work — including how BishBashDosh used to work.
Not anymore.
We've completely rebuilt our pension optimisation engine to be truly intelligent. Instead of recommending a fixed strategy to everyone, we now consider your family situation, marriage status, salary level, and tax position to give you genuinely personalised advice.
Here's what changed and why it matters.
#The Problem with One-Size-Fits-All
Here's how most pension calculators work (including our old approach):
- Calculate what taxable income gives you £48k net take-home
- Mark that as "Optimal" for everyone
- Done
Simple, but deeply flawed. This approach completely ignored:
- Whether you have children and could lose £1,851/year in Child Benefit
- Your marital status and Marriage Allowance eligibility
- Your actual salary level (£48k net isn't even possible on a £50k salary)
- Tax efficiency (the massive difference between 20% and 40% tax brackets)
- The compound value of pension contributions themselves
We were optimising for a single number without considering each person's unique financial situation.
A single person earning £80k should contribute heavily to their pension. A family with two children earning £60k should focus on preserving Child Benefit. A married couple with one non-working partner should stay in the basic rate band to qualify for Marriage Allowance.
These aren't edge cases — they're fundamentally different financial situations that deserve fundamentally different advice.
#Building True Intelligence
We rebuilt our optimisation engine from scratch with a simple principle: what's optimal depends on your situation.
Instead of a fixed target for everyone, we built a multi-factor scoring engine that evaluates every possible strategy based on five key factors:
#1. Net Income Comfort (30% weight)
Yes, you want enough take-home pay to live on. But diminishing returns kick in — the difference between £48k and £52k matters less than the difference between £35k and £39k.
#2. Child Benefit Preservation (25% weight)
If you have children and earn over £50k, you start losing Child Benefit through the High Income Child Benefit Charge. By £60k, it's gone entirely.
For a family with two kids, that's £1,851/year in lost benefits.
Our new system actively tries to keep you under the £50k threshold if you have children and it's financially sensible to do so.
#3. Tax Efficiency (20% weight)
Staying in the 20% basic rate band (under £50,270) is worth a lot more than most people realize.
Not just for the tax rate itself, but because:
- You qualify for Marriage Allowance transfers
- You avoid the psychological impact of "paying 40% tax"
- Your marginal rate on extra income is much lower
#4. Pension Contribution Value (15% weight)
More pension contributions mean more retirement wealth. But there's a balance — sacrificing too much and living paycheck to paycheck isn't "optimal" either.
#5. Marriage Allowance (10% weight)
If you or your partner earns under £12,570 and the other is a basic rate taxpayer, you can transfer 10% of the personal allowance for a £252/year tax saving.
Small, but worth considering in the overall picture.
#Real Examples: How It Works
Let me show you how intelligent optimisation adapts to different situations.
#Example 1: Single Earner, No Children, £80k Salary
Recommended strategy: Stay in basic rate (£50,270 taxable)
- Employee pension: 37%
- Net take-home: £41,500/year (£3,458/month)
- Tax saved: £7,892/year
- Pension built: £29,730/year (with employer contributions)
Why this is optimal: With no dependents and high income, they can afford to sacrifice more. They're saving nearly £8k in tax, avoiding the 40% higher rate bracket, and building £30k/year of pension wealth. The system recognises they don't need the higher take-home pay.
#Example 2: Family with 2 Children, £60k Salary
Recommended strategy: Child Benefit preservation (£49,999 taxable)
- Employee pension: 17%
- Net take-home: £42,000/year (£3,500/month)
- Child Benefit retained: £1,851/year
- Total effective income: £43,851/year
Why this is optimal: By keeping taxable income just under £50k, they preserve the full Child Benefit worth £1,851/year. They sacrifice £10,001 into their pension, which only costs £3,540 in take-home (after tax relief), but they keep £1,851 in benefits and build £13,000/year of pension wealth. Net result: £11k+ better off annually.
#Example 3: Married Couple, Partner Not Working, £70k Salary
Recommended strategy: Stay in basic rate (£50,270 taxable)
- Employee pension: 28%
- Marriage Allowance: £252/year additional saving
- Tax efficiency: Stays in 20% basic rate
Why this is optimal: Staying under £50,270 means they qualify for Marriage Allowance (£252/year), build substantial pension wealth, and avoid the 40% higher rate band entirely. The system recognises that Marriage Allowance eligibility adds value to this strategy.
#The New UX: No More Hidden Recommendations
But fixing the calculation was only half the battle. We also completely overhauled how we present pension strategies.
#The Old Way
- Results page loads showing "Current Plan"
- User has to click dropdown to see other options
- "Optimal Income" has a sparkle emoji but no explanation
- Options sorted by income amount, not relevance
- No comparison between strategies
The problem: The optimal strategy was buried. Users had to hunt for it.
#The New Way
We redesigned the entire strategy selector around progressive disclosure:
Step 1: Current Strategy Display
A compact dropdown showing your currently selected strategy with key metrics:
- Annual take-home pay
- Pension contribution percentage
- Target taxable income
Step 2: Expandable Comparison Table
Click to expand and see ALL strategies side-by-side:
- Take-home pay for each
- Pension percentage for each
- Total pension contributions
- Visual indicators for which is optimal
On desktop, it's a full comparison table. On mobile, it's card-based for easy scanning.
Step 3: Detailed Reasoning Modal
When you're on the optimal strategy, a link appears: "Why is this optimal for me?"
Click it and you see:
- Key benefits in plain English ("Preserves Child Benefit worth £1,851/year")
- Factor-by-factor breakdown with scores and weights
- Overall optimisation score out of 100
- Exactly what we considered and why
No more mystery. No more "trust us, this is optimal." We show our working.
#What This Means for You
If you used BishBashDosh before this update:
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Check your current strategy - If you were following "Optimal Income," run your numbers again. You might find you can take home more or optimize differently.
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Explore the new comparison table - See all your options side-by-side. You might discover a strategy that fits your situation better.
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Understand the "why" - Click "Why is this optimal for me?" when on a recommended strategy to see exactly what we're optimizing for.
The recommendations are now genuinely personalized. A single person earning £80k gets different advice than a married person with kids earning the same amount — because they should.
#What We Learned
This whole experience reinforced something important:
Optimisation without context is just maths.
Yes, we can calculate that £50,270 is the basic rate threshold. But whether that's the "optimal" target for you depends on your children, your marriage status, your salary, and your life goals.
Our old system was optimising for a number. Our new system optimises for your financial situation.
#The Technical Details (For the Nerds)
If you're curious how this works under the hood:
- Multi-factor scoring engine: Each strategy gets scored 0-100 on five factors, weighted by importance
- Dynamic candidate generation: We generate 6-10 candidate strategies based on your situation (more if you have children or are married)
- Weighted total score: Multiply each factor score by its weight, sum them up, pick the highest
- Human-readable reasoning: The system doesn't just say "this scored 87.3" — it explains why in terms you can understand
We added 22 new automated tests covering everything from low salaries to high earners with complex family situations. All 140 tests in our suite are passing.
We also documented every calculation with inline comments, so future developers (or future us) can understand exactly what's happening and why.
#What's Next
This is version 1.0 of intelligent optimisation. We're already planning version 2.0:
Partner income consideration: Right now we check if your partner qualifies for Marriage Allowance, but we don't optimize jointly. Coming soon: see how your pension contributions affect your combined household finances.
Multi-year projections: See how your strategy performs over 5, 10, or 20 years with compound growth.
Life event scenarios: "What if I have a child next year?" or "What if my partner starts working?" — model these scenarios before they happen.
Historical analysis: If you've been using BishBashDosh for a while, see how your actual strategy has performed vs. what the optimal would have been.
#Try It Yourself
The intelligent optimisation system is live now. Whether you're new to BishBashDosh or checking back after a while, you'll see the difference.
Run your numbers and you'll get a recommendation that's genuinely personalised to your situation. Click "Why is this optimal for me?" and you'll see exactly what we considered — the factors, the weights, the reasoning.
No black boxes. No mystery algorithms. Just transparent, intelligent financial advice.
And if you find a scenario where the recommendation doesn't make sense for your situation? Email us. The best products are built through that feedback loop — real users, real situations, real improvements.
Elliot Taylor
Founder, BishBashDosh
Questions about the new optimisation system? Found a scenario we should handle differently? Reach out through our support chat — we're always looking to make this better.