Annuity advisors

jogy

Ihave decided to buy an annuity at earlier age due to ill health. I need anadvisor who will stick in my corner right through this process.

Howdo I go about searching for the best broker who can provide me an excellentservice of finding the best annuity provider?

Orindeed, do I need a broker?

CanI do this myself and is there any millage in doing so? May be, it would befoolish idea not to employ an advisor for this?

Manythanks for the help.
Jogy

dunstonh

Howdo I go about searching for the best broker who can provide me an excellentservice of finding the best annuity provider?

Virtually every IFA can do this. You can find a local one at https://www.unbiased.co.uk

Orindeed, do I need a broker?

No. There are a limited number of companies that will retail direct to public. You wont necessarily get best price. Indeed, posters on here that have tried figures from an IFA and direct have found the IFAs tend to come in better. Possibly due to the ability to haggle and have access to companies that do not deal with the public direct and economies of scale. IFAs still handle over 75% of pension business.

jogy

Is one firm of IFA better than another? MoneySavings have used a particular firm but have gone to some length to mention others too.
If we choose a larger and a specialised firm, are they likely to have better negotiating power than a smaller IFA?
thanks for the reply.

dunstonh

Is one firm of IFA better than another?

Almost certainly but you wont know which for the tens of thousands of advisers out there.

MoneySavings have used a particular firm but have gone to some length to mention others too.

Posters in this section were actually finding their small local IFAs were coming in with better prices than the large internet based ones. My opinion on that is that a real adviser will haggle the price. A non-adviser handling an internet transaction will be unlikely to.

If we choose a larger and a specialised firm, are they likely to have better negotiating power than a smaller IFA?

No. Many of the small IFAs network or combine buying power to obtain best terms. The UK's largest IFA is probably one you have never heard of as all those that belong to it as network members or directly authorised but buying services from them all trade under their company name.

A firm that has a website that is focused on annuities doesnt make it a specialist. Chances are they also have websites focused on other areas as well (indeed, some of the firms mentioned on this site do just that).

Nothing stops you getting a local IFA to provide information and try an internet site as well.