Now that we have greatly expanded the amount of available information on this annuity website you can see that there are, indeed, various retirement options available to you. Maybe a pension annuity, even with the best annuity rates, isn’t right for you.

Perhaps you don’t want to realise the losses in your pension fund. Maybe you would prefer to give your fund the chance to recover some of its’ losses before you commit to buying an annuity.

It could be that income drawdown or phased drawdown is a better option. Take a good look round this website, then, when you are ready, let Origen, our strategic partner, guide you to a happier retirement.

In 2007 premiums in the UK pension annuities market were over £11 billion, and this is expected to continue to grow. However, there is an increasing product choice in the at-retirement market, and this can be a challenge.

Advisers in this market need to have a solid understanding of the options available and how they suit the client’s needs. The exact shape of an annuity is necessary before the best annuity rate is sought.

Longevity warrants consideration. According to figures from the Office of National Statistics, a 65 year old woman will now live for 2.8 years longer than they would have in 1980, and a 65 year old man will now live for four years longer.

There is also the issue of inflation. According to research from HBOS, the rate of pensioner inflation has increased by 36% over the past ten years. Some annuity contracts can help in this regard. These include: with-profits annuities, unit-linked annuities, and flexible annuities.

Many are familiar with the long standing annuity products including conventional, unit-linked, with-profits and flexible annuities, but we now have range of new at-retirement products including income drawdown and variable annuities to consider.

The advantage of income drawdown is that clients can keep their pension fund invested for longer and so have the possibility of increasing potential returns. Potentially useful in today’s economic climate.

In 2008, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) estimated that 66% of people now consider the Open Market Option when choosing their annuity, so at least they are looking for options.

Forecasts suggest that the at-retirement market will grow to £18 billion a year by 2012. It’s safe to conclude that these figures will rise as awareness increases.

Income drawdown continues to grow in popularity as an alternative to a traditional pension annuity. The market for it has expanded rapidly in the last couple of years, with many investors welcoming the increased flexibility it has to offer. It is a valuable tool for anyone looking to remain invested in the markets, delay their pension annuity purchase or to phase into retirement.

Income drawdown has really encouraged people to look at the flexibility their money can offer them, offering an alternative to buying a fixed pension annuity at retirement. It can really help to ease the transition to part time work. 

People are increasingly using the money to pay off their mortgage and other debts or sometimes even to pay income for a couple of years. It allows people to phase into retirement as they may look to work part time. However, while growing in popularity care needs to be taken to ensure clients understand the risks they are taking when extracting money from their fund. 

Taking out maximum income from the fund is a popular use for income drawdown with people actively seeking to deplete the value of the fund as quickly as possible. This is often done to reduce any inheritance tax liability that could arise from a large fund value.

Clients can take a mixing and matching approach with their retirement pot by investing part of the pot in income drawdown while using another portion to purchase a pension annuity. This is a good way to help clients phase their retirement process and spread the risk by guaranteeing a certain level of income while also looking to make investment gains.

A mix of pension annuities and income drawdown is very useful. The transition into pension annuities should be a phased one. For anyone aged around 60-65 the yield available on a pension annuity is not particularly attractive, so delaying the annuity purchase could be beneficial.