Life expectancy has increased considerably over this century therefore once you reach retirement in is important to get the best annuity rates from your pension pot, this is because the income from your annuity will probably have to last you on average over 10 years.
The majority of annuities in the UK are provided by the big Insurance Companies such as Prudential, Aviva, Standard Life, AXA and Legal and General to name a few. They all have different annuity rates for different ages, sex and postcode. Because of this it is very important to shop around a few months before you retire. There was a recent article that was published in America that stated that the British spend more time on Christmas shopping than they do on shopping for the best annuity rates.
Shopping around for your annuity is not that difficult and generally perhaps the best way is to consult the advice of an indpendent financial adviser, he or she will then research the whole of the market including some of the annuity providers you probably have not heard of. If you can it is perhaps also better to find a firm of independent financial advisers that specialise in annuities. There are many such firms an just typing “annuity rates” into Google should bring up a reasonable list of specialist firms.
It is also important to ensure that you check to see if you may qualify for enhanced annuities as these can give a significant increase to your annuity income.
Annuity Supermarket recommends a specialist annuity independent adviser Retirement Solutions and you can reach them on 0800 043 6701
