Every so often we review someone’s pensions and find something they had no idea was there. Not extra money exactly, something better. A promise, written into an old policy decades ago, to convert their fund into an income at a rate far more generous than anything available on the market today. It is called a guaranteed annuity rate, and it …
Of all the conversations we have with clients, this is the one that comes up too late most often. Someone loses their husband or wife, contacts the pension provider expecting the income to continue, and is told that it stopped on the date of death. Nothing has gone wrong. The annuity did exactly what it was set up to do, …
The image most people have of a pension scam is a badly written email or a cold call from someone who sounds obviously dodgy. Those still exist. But they are not what catches people out any more. The approaches that work now look entirely professional. A well-built website. Printed brochures. A named contact who is polite, patient and happy to …
It is the biggest financial decision most people ever make, and it usually gets less thought than buying a car. When you reach retirement with a pension pot, you have to turn that pot into an income, and broadly there are two ways to do it. Buy an annuity, and you swap the pot for a guaranteed income for life. …
The final year before retirement is when a lifetime of saving turns into a set of real decisions — some of which, once made, cannot be unmade. Sorted early, they set up a comfortable and confident retirement. Left to the last minute, they get rushed. If you plan to finish work within the next twelve months, here are the five …
Today is National Financial Awareness Day — an annual prompt, held each 14 August, to stop and take an honest look at your money. Most of the advice you will see today is about the everyday: check your balance, cancel the subscription you forgot about, shop around on your energy bill. All sensible, and all worth doing. But there is …
