Best Annuity Rates For Five Years
April 30, 2008
annuity rates are the highest they have been for the last five years, thanks to the current credit crunch crisis affecting the mortgage market. The affect of the credit crunch is that there is less confidence in government and stock markets. As a result, the income from company loans, i.e. corporate bonds has increased and this is the money that insurance companies use to pay annuities.
When people retire, most purchase an annuity to guarantee them an annual income for life. As corporate bond income has increased, so have the rates that are offered to annuitants.
As an example, a 65 year old man can get around Read more
Why Aren’t People Getting The Best Annuity Rates?
April 29, 2008
It is approximately six years since the FSA (Financial Services Authority) made it obligatory for insurers to tell people that they had the right to do what is called ‘exercise their open market option’ and that is just a posh term for ’shop around’.
However, despite the insurers telling people this – in not too forceful a manner, of course, and usually buried in the middle of mounds of literature in tiny small print – apparently two thirds of people do not bother to look for a better deal.
It is actually possible, believe it or not, to increase your retirement income from an annuity by over 40 percent just by dong a little research. This is one of the most important decisions of your life, so why aren’t people spending a little time on it?
Hargreaves Lansdown’s pensions analyst Read more
FSA Investigation Into Timeliness Of Annuity Transfers
April 25, 2008
According to many IFA’s, and certainly by the look of our recent article about how one client claimed it took him two years to get his annuity transferred, many insurance companies regularly go over the time limits and with no comeback on them they are unlikely to change.
Now, they are calling for the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to investigate.
According to the Association of British Insurers, it should take no more than two weeks to sort out the paperwork and transfer the annuity, however, one senior IFA, James Jones-Tinsley, an adviser for Pearson Jones PLC Read more
Take Your Pension Abroad
April 24, 2008
Those retirees who choose to retire abroad can now take their pension scheme with them and don’t actually need to purchase an annuity now, all thanks for new rules on overseas pensions.
Over 400,000 people retire abroad from the UK and now they can pack up their pension too and take it with them in cash.
Currently, you can take quarter of your pension in a tax free lump sum but then you Read more
Annuity Transfer Took Two Years!
April 23, 2008
How long should an annuity transfer take? If it takes a few weeks, that’s considered quite a long time. However, one retiree had to wait two years to draw his own pension!
Bruce Jamieson from Bognor Regis-based Jamieson Financial Services arranged to transfer a client’s pension fund from his pension provider, Pearl-owned NPI to purchase an annuity from Just Retirement.
Jamieson was quoted as saying:
˜First the product was wrong, then the paperwork, and when it was right because it was a corporate scheme you had to have the right paperwork [for that].
To begin with, Jamieson received out-of-date transfer forms. Then, Jamieson suffered further delays when he had to contact the client’s previous financial adviser to get the information he needed. Then there was communication from the two trustees of the client’s group pension scheme and the situation was exacerbated because one was in New Zealand and the other was in the UK.
Unfortunately, these sort of administration and communication issues are not uncommon.A recent report from Partnership Assurance and Hargreaves Lansdown, released last week, highlighted that when a life office closes the pension transfer process became particularly slow. According to this report, Phoenix Life was the worst offender with an average process time of 61 days.
Living Time’s More Flexible Annuity Option
April 4, 2008
Living Time has made an agreement with Openwork Market Solutions (OMS), allowing them to distribute Living Time’s new annuity deals.
Openworks is the IFA for Zurich Financial Services Group. They will now be able to distribute Living Time’s fixed term annuity plans.
These fixed term annuity plans are Read more
The Scots Suffer Because Of The English
April 3, 2008
The English live longer than the Scots, they have a much higher life expectancy. However, the Scots buy the same annuities as the English, which are calculated on the English life expectancy. This means that the Scots are getting a lower pension annuity income.
Some areas of Scotland have the lowest life expectancy rates in the UK. According to the recent tables compiled by actuaries Punter Southall, only one area of Scotland, East Dunbartonshire, has a longer life expectancy than their English counterparts. Read more