Russell Grant, now 58, is still well remembered for the multi-colour sweaters he wore many times when presenting his astrology items in the 1980′s. He is the author of numerous astrology books, his weekly star sign newspaper column is syndicated in around 400 regional and local newspapers and he also offers astrology guidance through his website RussellGrant.com. What has this got to do with a pension annuity, I here you ask?
Well, retirement planning is a subject Russell feels really strongly about. He and his partner, Doug, have been extremely cautious, and they have saved and put money into pension plans and done everything to ensure they can live without relying on the state pension and benefits, but they both feel that their efforts have been ruined by this current Government. The value of Russell’s pension fund has fallen by around 40% on previous valuations, leaving him a lot less to buy an annuity with when the time is right to retire.
He doesn’t consider that pensions are such a good idea any more, and a point was reached a few years ago where they couldn’t put any more in because the pension fund had reached the maximum £1.5m, but that’s pretty laughable now. And, the annuity rates available are laughable, he says, at one stage he was being told he would get £120,000 per year, then that then went down to about £80,000 and now it is nearer £45,000 after tax.
Interestingly, back in April, 2007, there were various aspects of Alistair Darling’s astrological chart combining to make him impotent and Russell said Gordon Brown was going on the defensive and would be perceived by many to be speaking lies. Thing is, though, shouldn’t he have seen this coming, and stuck with the annuity quotes he had then for his retirement income.
