At RetireRight we feel it should be compulsory for everybody to search on the open market for the best annuity rates available to them. That being said we also recognise that these searches can be hard for somebody coming up to retirement to have to deal with. We want to take the pain out of buying an annuity and show that with just one phone call we can get the best annuity rate and therefore the most income for you, the Retiree.

 Annuity Rates as of 1st May 2013; As you can see annuity rates change on a weekly and often daily basis so keeping an eye on rates is key to ensuring you get the most income when you need it.  The above info does not include enhanced annuities which will change but the main factor to determining the price is the health issues so once you know who the provider is that offers you the best enhancement then you will find that its always likely to be that same provider who you would go with.

If you provide us with a few details we will be able to start the search today. We deal with all the annuity providers on the Open Market and use our skill and expertise to ensure we find you the best option for you at Retirement.

We are not a call centre and we will allocate you a personal adviser who can, if needed provide advice to help you get the best out of your retirement.

Fill out the form opposite and let us find you the best annuity rates by asking all the pension annuity providers using the Open Market Option to provide a quote based on your details. The quote is free and we GUARANTEE to beat your existing providers initial rate.

Ensuring you get the best annuity rate in 2013 is extremely important when doing your retirement planning. Rates are determined by many factors and without the best advice you could be missing out on thousands of pounds of income in your retirement.

Simply taking the annuity rate offered from your existing provider will, in many cases, mean you are losing out on income. The moment before you reach retirement you need to start shopping around for the best annuity rates using the open market option.

The RetireRight website has been designed to be Jargon free and in plain english so that you can understand and research the options available to you in retirement.

Its extremely important that you take advice in retirement, retirement planning both before and at retirement is key to ensuring you have all the facts and figures available to you when deciding on how to take your pension income. RetireRight have many years of specialist retirement planning experience and its important that you not only get advice from a Financial Adviser but one that specialises in Retirement Advice, it can potentially save you thousands in lost income.

How to get the best annuity rates

Taking advice can be the key to getting the most from your pension, whether it be more income, a tax efficient income, or a lump sum now and a delayed income later. The most income is not always the best option as everybody’s situation is different. It’s important to explore all the options available to you and take advice from different sources before making your final decision.  The number of options are increasing each year as more companies try to adapt to the varying ways people wish to use their savings in retirement. Use a retirement specialist  and get free expert advice on what your retirement option are.

Use the Open Market Option

At the present time, by law, your existing provider has to offer you the right to shop around with the pension pot you have been saving with them for so many years. Due to the fact many people have never gone through this process before, or probably never will again, the multiple documents you recieve when it’s time to change your pension into an income can be daunting. A ‘default’ quote is usually sent out which details both using 100% of your pension to produce an income and, secondly if you were to take 25% tax free cash and use the remaining 75% to provider a lower income.

There are many other options to chose such as whether you want your spouse/partner to benefit or whether you want to have your payments increasing each year to combat the future cost of living. As these options require some knowledge of annuities and their benefits, many simply accept one of these ‘default’ options. 

The problem with this is that every bodies retirement plans look different. Choosing your retirement options is probably the last big financial decision you will make, so getting it right is important. If you’ve never taken financial advise before, now is a good time to start. Why would you save into a pension plan for your whole working life and then not seek to find the best options for it at retirement?

The open market option allows you to seek advise with your pension savings. A good retirement specialist will ask you your retirement plans, income needs and then shop around in the whole annuity market to find you the best deal.

“The process for choosing an annuity is a complex one and the majority still go for the “default” option by sticking with their pension scheme provider,” the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) said. This is where a retirement specialist should be used but many don’t realise the down falls of not shopping around. Failure to shop around for the best annuity rates can wipe up to 50 per cent off a person’s annual pension income.

“People are being short-changed by a toxic system,” said Joanne Segars, the chief executive of the NAPF, which represents 1,200 pension schemes with 15 million members.

“Lower and middle income workers are especially vulnerable – too many end up stuck with the wrong annuity at a bad price,”

This NAPF’s comments further cement what retirement specialists have been trying to encourage people to do for years. The choices you make with your pension fund will affect the level of income you receive for the rest of your life. It’s for this reason you should ensure you have explored all the options available by using the Open Market Option and shopping around.

 Annuity Rates

Annuity rates in January, have actually seen a recent up turn, this was predicted by ourselves in recent blogs before christmas. We felt that the rush for gender rates may well reduce rates up to that time but once this had passed then a few providers would start to increase rates to bring back business. Also as rates dropped by around 10% in the last 3 months of 2012 then there was a margin for increase which has been used in early 2013.

For those looking to retire you’re probably more interested in how you can get the highest income and not what caused this problem in the first place. First stop is to use the open market option if you are purely looking for the the best pension income. If your looking for alternatives to annuities there is drawdown or temporary annuities. These are more flexible options used by those looking to squeeze more out of their hard earned pension fund. They do however require more consideration and you should always speak to an independent financial advisor about all your options before making your choices.