AB Income Architect | Alpha Beta Partners

Introducing AB Income Architect

Modern retirement-income modelling for financial advisers

Deliver evidence-based income strategies with clear assumptions, stress-tested outcomes, and audit-ready outputs aligned with Consumer Duty all tailored specifically to your client.

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FAQs

No commitment required | Designed for UK adviser firms

Academically grounded. Practically applied. Personally relevant.

The Problem

The tools advisers rely on today were not designed for retirement income decision making

Advisers typically operate across multiple systems — cashflow tools for long-term planning, risk tools for suitability, and platforms for execution. However, when it comes to the real retirement decisions, a clear gap remains.

Cashflow tools support high-level, long-term planning — but rarely optimised for the practical mechanics of drawdown

Risk tools assess suitability and volatility but are disconnected from ongoing withdrawal sustainability

Platforms enable execution — but lack a dedicated retirement-income analysis layer in between planning and implementation

Spreadsheets are used to bridge the gap but are inefficient, hard to audit, and difficult to scale

Can your current retirement income process consistently and accurately answer the following?

1.

How much can a client safely withdraw without running out of money?

2.

Which model portfolio performs best in retirement conditions in terms of longevity and sustainability?

3.

When should annuities be introduced, and at what allocation?

4.

How do multiple income streams — pension, state pension, rental income to deliver a reliable income?

The Solution

The AB Income Architect tool fills the critical gap between planning and implementation

The ABP Income Architect is unique in the market at the point of issue. It has been developed in collaboration with two leading professors and academics.

The methodology is grounded in peer-reviewed research on retirement income sustainability and sequence-of-returns risk.

Calculations are driven by each individual’s Attitude to Risk and are based on real underlying investment portfolios rather than abstract models.

Income Architect offers three sustainable income profiles:

Capital Maintenance – Supports a sustainable income while preserving the long-term value of the SIPP, with a 25% probability that income will need to be adjusted downward over time.

Balanced – Supports a sustainable income with a 50% probability that income will need to be adjusted downward over time.

Income Generating – Seeks to maximise sustainable income, with a 75% probability that income will need to be adjusted downward over time.

Core Capabilities

Everything an adviser needs to design better retirement outcomes

Sustainable Withdrawal Modelling

Model retirement income under real-world conditions using historical sequence data.

Portfolio longevity projections
Sequence-of-returns risk analysis
Dynamic withdrawal strategies

Model Portfolio Comparison

Understand how different portfolios behave in retirement — not just in accumulation.

Compare multiple MPS options
Assess longevity and income stability
Align portfolio choices to client outcomes

Annuity & Drawdown Blending

Move beyond all-or-nothing decisions with flexible, blended income modelling.

Escalating, joint-life annuities-Level
Partial annuitisation scenarios
Income floor modelling

Multi-Income Planning

Bring all retirement income sources into a single unified view

State pension & DB pensions
Rental income & part-time earnings
Investment withdrawals & annuities

Consumer Duty-Ready Outputs

Produce evidence-based retirement strategies with structured inputs and audit-ready outputs.

Clear scenario comparisons
Audit-friendly PDF export
PDF export history

Real & Nominal Views

View outcomes in both cash terms and inflation-adjusted real purchasing power simultaneously.

Configurable inflation rate
Real-terms discounting
Side-by-side comparison

The Methodology

Built on academic rigour, stress-tested against history

Unlike tools that rely on simple Monte Carlo simulations, AB Income Architect uses a rolling historical simulation engine — stress-testing every plan against every market sequence that has occurred. The result is defensible, evidence-based, and auditable.

Portfolio Construction

Weighted Portfolio & Fee Adjustment

A weighted portfolio is built from asset classes, each with a time series of historical returns. Client fees are deducted at the asset level — not as a post-hoc reduction — keeping everything on a consistent net basis. The geometric mean return and volatility are derived from this fee-adjusted series.

Academic Foundations

Professor Andrew Clare

Professor of Asset Management, Bayes Business School, City, University of London

Andrew is the Professor of Asset Management at Bayes Business School. He is also a Trustee Director of the BTPS Pension Scheme, where he serves on the Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Bayes Andrew was a Senior Research Manager in the Monetary Analysis wing of the Bank of England which supported the work of the Monetary Policy Committee. Andrew also worked as the Financial Economist for Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM). He is the co-author of “The Trustee Guide to Investment” and has published extensively in both academic and practitioner journals on a wide range of economic and financial market issues.

He is also the author of “The Old Lady”, a comedy-thriller set in the Bank of England.

Dr Stephen Thomas

Professor of Finance, Bayes Business School, City, University of London

Steve Thomas is Professor of Finance at Bayes Business School, London, and previously held academic positions at the Universities of Wales and Southampton. He is the author of more than 100 journal articles published in leading international economics and finance journals, as well as the official CFA text accompanying the Investment Management Certificate qualification, now in its 25th edition.

He has served on the boards of several investment firms, including as a director of the Bear Stearns Global Macro hedge fund and Firecrest Hambro, a private client advisory boutique. Alongside Andrew Clare, he co-founded Solent Systematic Investment Strategies, which develops investment rules and software for financial advisers and investment managers.

Steve has received numerous international awards for his investment research.

Workflow

Works with your existing tools,

no replacement needed

AB Income Architect slots into your existing adviser workflow as the dedicated retirement-income optimisation layer.

Plan

Use Voyant or CashCalc for high-level financial planning and cashflow

Assess Risk

Use Dynamic Planner or your preferred risk profiling tool for suitability

Optimise

Test withdrawal sustainability, compare portfolios, model annuities, blend income sources

Implement

Execute on your platform of choice

Product Experience

Built for speed, clarity, and real-world usage

Clean adviser-friendly interface. Scenario comparison in seconds. Exportable reports for client discussions. Every screen designed for the moment that matters.