Living Time has announced changes to the flexibility of their Income Plan, their alternative to an annuity. They have just reduced the minimum term on their Income Plan to three years, offering retirees extra flexibility to arrange a secure retirement income while keeping their options open. This Income Plan pays a secure rate of income to the retiree during the term and then returns a guaranteed maturity sum that the client can use to purchase a new retirement income solution that best fits their changing needs.
Without investment performance risk, that income can be tailored at the outset to meet retirees demands, subject to the maximum 120% of the government’s actuaries department (GAD) limit. Living Time state that the Income Plan is a very straightforward package offering greater flexibility than a lifetime pension annuity but more security than normal income drawdown, and they believe that the plan will appeal to independent financial advisers (IFA’s) who want to advise clients not only at the point of their retirement, but on effective use of their pension fund throughout the early years of retirement.
The economic turmoil we are witnessing has made IFAs and their clients very wary of locking for life into what this year has to offer, driving demand for real alternatives to lifetime annuities, and the Income Plan offers such. It must be taken out for any term of at least three years, and will provide a secure income during that period, and to a maximum age of 75, and it allows retirees keen to wait for the economic dust to settle, so to speak, to have a better view of their ongoing health and wealth situation.
The Living Time Income Plan can accept pension monies that includes protected rights funds and is also available as a Trustee Investment Plan (TIP) paying a guaranteed return within a self invested personal pension (SIPP), and it could be worth considering as you search through annuity quotes looking for the best annuity rates.
