Know what you want from your retirement income?

The easy answer to this headline is ‘yes’. You want your pension annuity to give you a healthy retirement income. You want the best annuity rates leading to the best annuity quote, and you are bothering to shop around. Excellent, but do you know enough about the various factors involved to make a decision yourself? Would you be better off talking through your situation with a specialist? Examples: Should you take all your tax-free cash (maximum 25%) ? Should you have a single life or a joint life annuity? Do you smoke, or have a lifestyle or medical condition? Do you want your annuity to increase in payment? Do you want some form of guarantee, so that your pension money isn’t lost on early death? Do you want a conventional annuity, a with-profits annuity, an enhanced annuity, or a flexible annuity? Do you know enough yourself not to take advice?