Pension Annuity Rates are falling but you can avoid the rip off’s.
The fact is that most Financial Advisers don’t care about you, don’t care about your long term needs. If they did the financial world be a different place.
Only this week (Jan 2012) the financial trade press has made statements about Financial Advisers moving clients into (often) poor managed funds in order to get round some of the commission changes that are coming into play.
2013 Update – things are no better.
There are hundreds of over 55s who are missing out on getting the maximum pension in their retirement purely because they are not getting the pension annuity advice they should.
In a recent announcement the government is running a consultation on helping those approaching retirement to improve their finances – and the working party is due to report in April after seeking further information from financial firms as well as other organisations.
The Association of British Insurers, the trade body for pension firms, has agreed a compulsory code of practise that stops providers sending automatic annuity application forms to their customers which will stop some of the poor results being handed to unsuspecting annuity investors.
The intention is retirement savers will check the market for the best annuity rates rather than buy what could be a poor deal.
The government has warned that if they do not put their own house in order then legislation will follow in due course.
Automatic annuity sign up is a mistake you should not do it.
Accepting your pension providers annuity offer without checking out the market is likely to be an expensive mistake for many that can mean ending up with 40 per cent less retirement income than you could find by considering the whole of the market.
The ABI reckons around 650,000 people a year turn 65 and around do not shop around for an improved annuity deal – which adds up to about 196,500 people eking out their money to fund a poorer retirement.
The main problem for annuity buyers is making a bad decision sticks for life, as once someone is locked in to an annuity, the decision cannot be reversed.
There is some further news on this subject.
Annuitys – lower rates as interest rates become even lower but there are some options.
Enhanced annuities pay out more money to retirement savers suffering from poorer lifestyle or medical conditions.
That does not mean someone has to suffer a serious illness to gain – in many instances simple conditions that are not life-threatening, like high blood pressure, high than normal cholesterol readings or high blood pressure can qualify.
Enhanced annuities are one of the few financial products that offer better terms to smokers.
Across the market, annuity providers offer better terms to customers suffering from around 1,500 medical conditions. Not every provider covers every option, but shopping around could throw up an annuity firm paying significantly more than a customer’s pension provider.
Enhanced in terms of an annuity means the monthly payment is more. The firms offer higher payments to customers who smoke or who suffer a condition because they are unlikely to live as long as their healthier counterparts.
Please make sure you get in touch today in order for us to provide some guidance about increasing your income at retirement. Our no obligation service means you get the advice you want without any of the downside’s.