Already Receiving An Annuity Payment What options Are There

rubberman419

Hi

I have been trying to find an answer to this problem.

Two years ago I was 50 and took the tax free 25% lump sum from my pension. I was classed as disabled and no longer able to work. I purchased an annuity through Friends Provident, I found out later that this was not the best choice I could have made.

My wife is Canadian and we are moving to Canada, as I am already receiving a payment every 12 months I cannot find any advice on options that I may or may not have regarding this money. The sum used to purchase the annuity was only around £40,000 and the income I get is negligable.

Is there a way that I can either transfer this across or liquidate the fund and transfer to a Canadiam scheme? If I am not able to do this personally are there any companies that assist with problems like this?

Thanks

Rubberman419

McKneff

No, once a pension is instigated it cannot be changed.

Sorry. Its a case of shopping around before hand. My OH fell into the trap of not shopping around, for him its only a matter of a few pounds a year but we just got on with it.

The question comes up on the boards every now and again.

Hope you enjoy your new life in Canada.:j:j

AlexPQM

This is exactly why there has been so much shouting about the Open Market Option (OMO) in the press recently and there are calls for the Government to make it a default when purchasing an annuity. As in the post above, once you purchased an annuity, that's it, you can't reverse the decision. The providers are under increasing pressure to make the OMO more visible in their communications to the customers (they already have to mention it but very often it is on the last page of the booklet) as a lot of people are not aware they have an option of shopping around and not necessarily buy the annuity from the provider who has their pension pot. Another issue people are often not aware of is that they can combine the pension pots, which would give them a better annuity rate.

I know this information is kinda late for you, so I am sorry you were not aware of this prior to purchasing the annuity.