By shopping around for an annuity a retiree could get up to 40% more income with the best enhanced annuity rates. They can do this by utilising the open market option. Staggeringly, 30% of retirees don’t even bother to look, research shows. According to research from the Association of Btirish Insurers (ABI), only two thirds of annuity buyers use the open market option when looking to buy an annuity.
Others are wrongly assuming various reasons why it would not be worth their while, according to George Ladds, head of investment and pensions at Fair Investment Company. For example, the ABI found around 23% think as they only have a small pension fund, it is not worth shopping around. In fact, it doesn’t matter whether your pension fund is £5,000 or £1 million, you should always exercise your right to use the open maket option, he explained. You could get more than 30% extra for your pension fund whatever its value if you qualify for enhanced annuity rates.
