Selling a rental property and reinvesting the proceeds offers a more flexible way of funding your retirement than being a landlord – but it also involves some big investment decisions when it comes to allocating the cash.

William, 65, faces such a dilemma. He and his wife Catherine, also 65, are well set up for retirement. They both have Isas and pensions with nearly £1.2mn invested, plus £150,000 in savings accounts and Premium Bonds. They own three properties: their home (worth £1.2mn), a holiday home (£500,000) and a property they let out (£875,000).

William currently earns about £160,000 a year. He estimates that once he stops working in the next two years, the couple will need to draw around £60,000 a year after tax from their investments, to top up their state pensions and William’s defined-benefit pension, which pays about £5,000 a year.