Couple considering a joint life annuity to protect their retirement income

What Happens to Your Annuity When You Die? The Question Couples Forget to Ask

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, …

Retirement ProfessionalsWhat Happens to Your Annuity When You Die? The Question Couples Forget to Ask
Retired couple discovering their pension could buy more guaranteed income than expected

Annuity Rates Are Still Up to 60% Higher Than 2021 — Is Your Pension Missing Out?

If you looked at annuities a few years ago and decided they weren’t worth it, it may be time to look again. Across the industry, annuity rates today are widely reported to remain up to 60% higher than they were in 2021 — a gap that has held for some time now, not a brief spike. For anyone with a …

Retirement ProfessionalsAnnuity Rates Are Still Up to 60% Higher Than 2021 — Is Your Pension Missing Out?
Couple reviewing their pension options before choosing an annuity

Five reasons to buy a pension annuity

Five Reasons to Buy a Pension Annuity After a lifetime accumulating pension savings, you reach the point when those savings must provide a regular income for your retirement. The options today are broader than ever — drawdown, lump sums, or a mix of approaches — but the most traditional route, the annuity, has firmly returned to favour. Here’s why. Consider …

Retirement ProfessionalsFive reasons to buy a pension annuity

Gilt yield drama makes rising annuity rates ‘hard to ignore’

Dramatic spike in government borrowing costs January started in dramatic fashion for government borrowing with a significant cost spike which saw the 15-year gilt yield standing at 5.17%, compared to 4.23% on the same date the previous year. Uncertainty about the performance of the UK economy and the ramifications for inflation after Donald Trump returns to the White House are …

Retirement ProfessionalsGilt yield drama makes rising annuity rates ‘hard to ignore’

Hot annuities market brings break-even point average five years closer

Payback period on a benchmark £100,000 annuity today is 14.5 years Current record annuity rate levels have pulled the break-even point for holders closer by five years, latest statistics show.  Canada Life yesterday (26 June) published figures which reconfirm the significant improvement in rates over the last 18 months. These improvements mean the payback period on a £100,000 benchmarked annuity …

Retirement ProfessionalsHot annuities market brings break-even point average five years closer

FCA fines Standard Life Assurance £30m over annuity sales failures

Standard Life has been fined £30.7 million by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over failures in selling non-advised annuities. The regulator took action against Standard Life Assurance, now owned by closed-book pension provider Phoenix, over enhanced annuity sales between July 2008 and May 2016. ‘Standard Life Assurance failed to put in place adequate controls to monitor the quality of the …

Retirement ProfessionalsFCA fines Standard Life Assurance £30m over annuity sales failures