Annuity Purchase - Now or 5 years time ?

gfplux

You should also consider the "certainty factor".
If you have other assets then the certainty of a monthly income from one part of your retirement plan is very helpful to a good nights rest.
As someone who (as part of my retirement assets) has had an annuity in payment for a number of years I can not stress more the importance of this "factor"

jamesd

Which is more certain, the financial health of the company paying an annuity or the financial health of a mixture of corporate and government bonds from a few hundred different places? The annuity company is almost certain to continue paying but I doubt it's as certain as at least most of the money from many more places continuing to be paid.

If you just want to be sure of the amount you can set that in a drawdown pension and be sure it won't vary more than once every three years if you want that. But the GAD limit on how much you can take in drawdown will vary so there's some uncertainty in that until you reach an age where it's so high that you can't reasonably take as much out as the limit allows.