The open market option; getting the best UK pension annuity rates, is proving to be a communications challenge in the pension annuity arena. We need to help people engage much better with their important retirement decisions. Agencies have been lobbied, the likes of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), to see how they can mandate engagement with the open market option (OMO) and other parts of the market earlier such as perhaps at 45-50 years of age. Earlier engagement in the retirement planning process would do much to improve many people’s prospects of an improved retirement. Origen’s technical manager Bob Perkins says helping people to appreciate that they need to save more in their 40’s can have a massive impact on their retirement fund which in turn will open up fresh options to them when it comes to taking their retirement income.
He suggested that as a business Origen deal with all parts of the retirement spectrum and they are working hard to offer something for everyone. What he finds staggering was that out of 450,000 annuities purchased last year, over 400,000 were with pension funds of less than £50,000. That is very important to take on board and we need to communicate with people now who don’t understand how the pensions market works. We have to tell them they need to commit if they are going to save a decent amount in their pension fund, to buy an annuity with on the best UK annuity rates they can.