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...Anna Rogers, senior partner at Arc Pensions Law, recommends “splitting one’s pension pot between annuity now and annuity later, and also between inflation proofed and flat rate”....
...The advantages of annuities are certainty, simplicity and security — the value of having a known income for life....
...Legal & General’s latest standard annuity rate is 6.45 per cent, 30 per cent higher than it was in April 2022. But annuity sales fell by a shock 14 per cent....
...Bulk annuity sales, as these deals are known, should pick up from around £28bn in 2022 to £80bn by 2027 say pension consultants LCP — good news, you’d think, for insurance companies that specialise in annuities...
...BlackRock’s LifePath Paycheck, which rolls out in April, also combines target date funds with annuities, but the guaranteed payments can start sooner, allowing participants to keep the rest of their pension...
...And at retirement a single large pot will attract better annuity rates and access to a wider range of post-retirement options....
...The number of schemes trying to get ready for such deals — last year a record £50bn of bulk annuity deals were agreed — has led to steep discounts on some assets, said investment advisers....
...Analysts have warned that the proposals would probably reduce the number of employers looking to offload their pension schemes to insurers under so-called bulk annuity arrangements....
...In the past, you could argue this “one size fits most” strategy was more suitable because, first, the bond market behaved largely as expected and, second, most people traded in their pension pot for an annuity...
...Companies looking to do these so-called bulk annuity deals need to make the assets as attractive as possible to potential buyers....
...Someone still working and saving into a pension, but wanting to lock a chunk of tax-free pension cash into an annuity nowAnnuity rates may be high, but experts warn against buying an annuity early due to...
...It also allows an increasing chunk of sponsors to exit the business altogether, transferring assets to bulk annuity insurers in “buyout” deals....
...The remaining 75 per cent of your money can be drawn directly or used to buy an annuity. Hamlet has three Sipps....
...The rise in market rates in the past few years has dramatically improved the funding levels for company pension schemes, meaning a huge swath can now make a so-called bulk annuity deal with an insurer, where...
...UK pension reforms in 2015 gave retirees greater flexibility. Before then, they mostly had to buy annuities. Bond-heavy annuity funds hedged that liability as retirement approached....
...The annuities market was hit in 2015 by the Pensions Freedom Act, which ended any obligation for retirees to buy the fixed products with their pension pot....
...The introduction of pension freedoms in 2015 damped demand for the product, as older savers were no longer compelled to purchase an annuity with their pension....
...for life, whether provided by way of scheme pension or annuity); or flexible drawdown....
...Announcing the group’s 2023 results on Wednesday, Simões said the business had “demonstrated resilience in challenging markets to achieve record new business volumes” in corporate pension deals, UK annuities...
...London-based PIC has more than 300,000 policyholders amassed through so-called bulk annuity deals, where it takes over pension fund liabilities and the assets backing them from their sponsoring companies...
...Insurance and savings group M&G has re-entered the bulk annuity market, taking advantage of booming conditions as companies look to offload their pension schemes to insurers....
...obligations through so-called bulk annuity deals....
...It will always be a gamble to buy an annuity over taking an income directly from your pension investments....
...That’s the opposite of a “crystallised” pension fund that has an annuity, a drawdown scheme or has had a tax-free lump sum withdrawn from it....
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