Don’t leave your pension on auto-pilot!
The media is full of doom and gloom regarding the fact that Annuity rates are at an all-time low. Annuity rates are the factors used by insurance companies to decide how much pension they’ll pay you for your pension savings. Low rates are bad news if you are heading for retirement.
The majority of people getting to retirement rely on buying a pension but remain unaware that over recent years annuity rates have consistently fallen.
As Billy Burrows, director of Better Retirement Group, puts it:
“Annuity rates have been falling almost continuously since 1990. Back then, the annuity rate for a 65-year-old man was more than 15.5%; today it is less than 6.5%, a fall in excess of 50%. In August, annuity income fell by more than £300 a year, or 5%, making this the largest monthly fall on record.”
Pension Airways
Pension planning is a bit like taking a flight. It takes a lot of effort, time and a bit of money to get airborne and on your way to your retirement destination. You need to make sure you know where you’re going, when you are going to get there and that you’ve got enough fuel to get there. You’ll also need to check if there’s anything on your route that’s likely to disrupt you – e.g. bad weather.
If you are some way away from retirement once you are in the air and have reached cruising altitude you can put your plan on “auto-pilot” and check every so often that you are still on the right course.
However, as you get closer to retirement and your final descent you really need to be back at the controls and making all those key decisions and judgements that will help you land safely for your retirement.
My Pension Roadmap
We want to start working with you on your journey towards retirement. That’s why we’ve created our subscription service called My Pension Roadmap. You can read more about it here and here.
We’d love to meet with you or your employees to help you start planning for retirement. Contact us for a free initial meeting to see how we can help.
Don’t leave your retirement plans on auto-pilot – contact us today!
Steve Clark