Call for pension savers to look at all options

 

In this week's BBC Your Money, Declan Curry looks at how to avoid fraudulent travel deals, sprucing up your garden on a budget and making the most of your pension pot. 

Nearly 400,000 annuities were sold to retirees last year, bought for an average of £28,000 from their pension pot. There has been criticism of the industry for not explaining to retirees that they can buy their annuity from any provider that they choose. This has led to the introduction of a new code of conduct ensuring that pension companies tell their clients that they can shop around.

Shopping around for an annuity or the Open Market Option, means that retirees can buy an annuity from any provider.

Watch the video 'Travel tips and pension pots'  with Billy Burrows from Better Retirement Group.

Drawdown rule changes could cost pensioners

Pensioners taking income drawdown could see hundreds of pounds knocked off their annual income as soon as April next year.

The news that yet more changes are in store for people opting to draw a flexible income out of their pension pot will come as a blow, as the Government has already chopped and changed the rules twice in the past two years.

A 65-year-old male with a £100,000 pension pot who agreed his drawdown rate before 26 March this year generates £5,800 of income a year. In January, the Government confirmed that anyone agreeing income drawdown after this date would be eligible for 20 per cent more income and could take £6,960 out of their pot each year.

To read the full article follow this link.

Innovative free gadget launched that scans major insurers to help you boost your income in retirement

A ground-breaking gadget has been launched to help savers on the brink of retirement squeeze every drop of income from their pension pot.

The free-to-use online tool, designed by advisers Hargreaves Lansdown, calculates exactly how much income you can get from your pension pot at a number of companies including Just Retirement, Partnership, LV, Aviva and MGM Advantage.

It means you can compare like-for-like annuity policies at the touch of a button to work out which pension provider will give you the most...
Read the full article here

Fixed-term annuity savers hit by low investment returns

Savers who bought a fixed-term annuity five years ago could be left up to 18 per cent worse off than someone who bought a lifetime annuity.

Enhanced annuity specialist MGM Advantage has analysed the total retirement income a 65-year-old man with a pension pot worth £100,000 would receive if they had bought a five-year fixed-term annuity on 1 January 2008.

The provider’s analysis assumes that at the end of the term the individual buys an annuity based on their health at the time. To find out why a fixed-term annuity is not a no-risk product, follow this link to the full article from Money Marketing.

OMO is no use without advice to shape retirement choices

  

The Association of British Insurer’s (ABI) new retirement choices code of conduct was introduced on 1 March 2013, continuing the work of increasing the number of people who shop around for annuities as they reach retirement. However, searching the open market for the best rate is only relevant after the most appropriate shape and type of annuity has been chosen.

With the growing competition for business from non-advised and execution-only offerings, it is crucial advisers define and position their services correctly. They may want to set a minimum pension pot size they will advise on or pass on small cases to another firm.

Shopping around is not simply about finding the best annuity rate..

To read the full article, please follow this link