Posts Tagged ‘ABI’
Who do you trust when you buy an annuity?
We have been working with a couple of clients recently who have subscribed to our Retirement Options Programme. Basically this advice service leads you through the many options for turning all of your accumulated pension plans into a regular income. This being the pensions industry there’s always more than one way to skin a pensions cat!
The last two annuities we set up showed how poor the income was that was being offered by the existing insurer. In the first case we increased the clients income by nearly 30% and in the second case by just over 25%. This is a huge increase in income that’s payable for the rest of the client’s life.
Depending on how long these clients and their spouse’s live the extra income could run into tens of thousands of pounds.
These two cases are for straightforward annuity purchases. Neither of these clients qualified for any enhanced annuity because of ill-health or lifestyle issues.
Needless to say both clients are incredibly pleased that they joined the Retirement Options Programme and took our advice.
Pension providers will now do more to encourage customers to shop around before buying an annuity. The trade body the Association of British Insurers has published a new ‘Best Practice Guide for the Retirement Process’. It sets out the principles pension providers are expected to follow. It’s designed to help increase customer understanding of retirement and purchase the right annuity for their circumstances.
The question is this – do you trust your provider to point you in the right direction or would you like to be in the same position as our clients above who have squeezed the maximum income from their pension pot?
If you are near retirement and would like to join our Retirement Options Programme please contact us here. Don’t forget once you’ve bought your annuity it’s too late to do anything about it.