The calculator was developed in partnership with the actuarial team at Victoria University.

Lifetime founder Ralph Stewart said it had taken a year to build. It is based on Morningstar assumptions.

“It’s designed to illustrate how combining asset classes can increase returns, mixing and matching assets to maximise your retirement income.”

He said it was the first of its type in the market and was a tool for “informed investors” at this stage. It would suit advisers but would need to be simplified for the wider public.

Liz Koh, who was involved in the development of the calculator, said the work had shown that about a third of a person’s portfolio was the optimal level for insured income, with shares, bonds and cash on top of that.

She said, if an adviser was designing a portfolio for someone, they could use it to see what would be the best solution for that individual.

Stewart said the calculator was product agnostic.

Koh said, while there had been some interest from advisers in placing clients in Lifetime’s product, and the calculator might help them, there were limitations.

“Advisers are very protective of their funds under management. There is a different remuneration structure for advisers with the Lifetime product. In my view that shouldn’t impact on the optimal decision for the client because advisers have a duty under the law to put the client's interests first. But there are some advisers who don’t like to see their funds under management disappear from under them.”

She said Lifetime's was also not a product that fitted easily on to a portfolio management system and would create an extra level of fees for clients. “It can be a bit of a barrier. When people talk to advisers about the product they need to be aware that may influence the adviser’s recommendations.”

You can see the calculator here.