December 2011 Archive
Retirement income cut
The future for your retirement income isn’t looking good if you’re considering retiring in the next few months or so. Many experts are suggesting a that a 3 pronged attack on pensions will have the effect of drastically cutting retirement income. The effect of falling pension annuity rates, volatile stockmarkets around the world and pension contributions being frozen [...]
Is income drawdown for you?
Do you want flexibility with your retirement planning? If you do, income drawdown could be the right solution for you. Normally, pension holders can take a regular income from their pension fund between the ages of 55 and 74, as long as they have enough funds in their pot to do so. Upon retirement, 25% of the value [...]
Annuities for 2012
The future is looking bright for fixed-term annuities for 2012. Today’s annuity market is somewhat different from what is was just five years ago. We have seen significant growth in the enhanced annuity market and a great deal of development in other at-retirement product areas, such as the investment-linked annuity. However, in a recent Retirement Planner poll hosted on [...]
Combining pension funds
Combining pension funds at retirement makes a lot of sense. Very few of us remain in the same occupation from school to retirement, and that can result in some cases in several different pension funds. Combining them all together can make financial sense in various ways, but only if it is handled in the right way. One reason to [...]
Annuity advice could be harder to get
Independent financial advisers (IFAs) will walk away from providing annuity advice with certain annuity sales as “it’s not worth their while”, meaning that the growth of non-advised annuity sales will accelerate. It does look like the growth in non-advised sales of annuities are set to increase post-Retail Distribution Review (RDR) as a large swathe of the market [...]
Retirement advice – it’s worth having
Taking retirement advice is important. You cannot fail to be drawn into the very public concerns about both retirement and pensions which are raging constantly at the present time. It used to be the case that approaching your retirement was something to be considered as a positive experience – you’re finishing work, after all. The recently retired generation had [...]
Annuity rates for 2012
Annuity rates for 2012 don’t look good. Annuity rates are falling, and have been for around ten years now. On the basis what goes down usually goes back up at some point, just what is the prospect for a rate rise any time soon? The simple answer is that rates probably won’t rise soon which actually means a [...]
Pension schemes still closing
Pension scheme closures are continuing, says the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF). The pensions landscape has changed considerably in recent years. Yes, more final-salary pension schemes have been closed to existing staff in the private sector during this year, a report says. Around 23% of pension schemes are shut to future contributions from existing pension savers and [...]
More retirement options than ever
There are now more retirement options than ever, making retirement quite a complex business. There are frequently changing rules and regulations, and longer-term trends, which together make the choice of retirement product a much more complicated process these days – it was much simpler just a few years ago. While insurance companies grapple with increasing life [...]
You can get a higher pension income
Even with the recent 10% fall in annuity rates you can get a higher pension income - if you shop around to find the best provider. While earlier generations might have gained from higher annuity rates, those retiring today generally have higher levels of personal wealth; and using that wealth smartly can offset the pain. Just because your pension fund has been saved with Standard [...]