Comparing rates for annuities is absolutely essential if you are to get the best deal on your pension. The fact that only around one third of people bother to compare their annuity offer with other providers is pretty scandalous. Moreover, many of these people may not only be being offered rates that are lower than rival insurers, they also may not be being offered the enhanced rates that they could be entitled to. The Daily Mail have today published their excellent “Five Golden Rules” regarding pensions and one of them is quite rightly advising potential annuitants to shop around for the best deal.
Who is to blame for this lack of comparison by savers? Well some blame the providers, others might blame the regulators for not being more stringent with providers in forcing them to provide better and more explicit information. You could lay the blame at annuitants but with the average man in the street barely being able to explain what an annuity is, you can hardly blame them for not knowing that you need to shop around to get the best deal.
Whoever you think is to blame, the bottom line is that thousands of pensioners are needlessly missing out on potential retirement income. And with the annuity market being ever more flexible, with dozens of different products on the market, such as short-term annuities, there really is a whole host of choices for those looking at buying an annuity. Often criticised as being restrictive and inflexible, these new solutions that are coming onto the market should make the idea of buying an annuity more appealing, despite the glut in rates.
