Retirement is supposed to be the holiday of a lifetime, a time to put your feet up and relax, but if money is an issue would you enjoy it? To ensure you get the best value make sure you purchase your annuity using the open market option.
What is the Open Market Option
The open market option was introduced so annuitants were not forced to buy their annuity from their pension company. It allows you to take your pension fund (after taking the tax free cash) to another annuity provider to buy your annuity. The maximum tax free cash is normally 25% of the total pension.
What are the advantages of the Open Market Option
The biggest advantage of the open market option is that all annuity providers offer different rates for different gender, age, postcode and lots of other criteria. This means you will get the best rate available for the annuity you wish to purchase.
Although the open market option has been around since 1978, it was not widely publicised by the pensions industry, in fact it was not mentioned at all by most companies until they were forced to do so by the Financial Services Authority in 2002.
The only way to ensure you get the retirement you deserve from your pension fund is to use the Open Market Option.
