Buying annuities direct.

dunstonh

Thanks all for the info, the IFA's being recommended is Alexander Forbes?

Try a local one as well. Previous posters have found the local IFAs have come in with the best rates. Possibly due to the fact they are more likely to phone the provider and haggle than a factory line process used by the internet methods.

How can you judge whether your IFA has got you a better/the best deal?

The IFA can show you the figures on comparisons.

babyj3

dunstonh wrote: »

Try a local one as well. Previous posters have found the local IFAs have come in with the best rates. Possibly due to the fact they are more likely to phone the provider and haggle than a factory line process used by the internet methods.



The IFA can show you the figures on comparisons.

I have read about enhanced annuities and see that a number of issues can help you enhance/ get a better pension and that Postcode/Health + Lifestyle/whether you have a long terms illness and are taking prescription medication and even previous jobs can help increase your pension but cannot find out much about these or what qualifies presumably because the industry wants you to use a financial adviser
I know a lot of people who are coming up to retirement who ask me to look for quotes for them as I have a computer - they do not want to use a financial adviser as when they have contacted them they do not just want to deal with the pension issue they want to now all about their finances/savings and my friends feel that it is none of their business and not something they want to discuss - only their pension -but advisers they have contacted will not leave it at that.I feel they may be losing out - any advice on where I can look for them

Daniel_Elkington

The reason an IFA wants to look at all the savings is to ensure that all a persons income is sensible.

If they have (which I have found) some bonds paying income we invest them in a similar investment in investment ISA's so they get an extra 20% or more dependent on their tax situation.

We can help with loads of other things. Retirement and how you retire is a massive decision, why would you only give an adviser half the picture.

You can also say to the IFA, I only want to discuss my annuity, that is it. We are then obliged to say that 'I can only work on the information provided, if there is something that you do not mention that could have affected the advice given you have no recourse to redress in future based on evidence that was not supplied' or words to that effect.

dunstonh

they do not want to use a financial adviser as when they have contacted them they do not just want to deal with the pension issue they want to now all about their finances/savings and my friends feel that it is none of their business and not something they want to discuss - only their pension -but advisers they have contacted will not leave it at that.I feel they may be losing out - any advice on where I can look for them

The adviser has to advise. They can refuse to disclose and the adviser can record that and it will of course reduce consumer protection but it wont stop the adviser from doing it.

As you dont hold an FSA authorisation then you will not get market rates. You may be able to find out generic rates based on RRP but not real rates.

soperman

You are due to take your benefits at the end of this year and you may know that under the FSA's Retail Distribution review (RDR) that commission is being banned and will be replaced by adviser-charging or fees. So, if we assume your pension pot having taken the cash lump sum is £30,000, will you be prepared for an adviser charge of ,say, between £300 or £500 to be deducted from this pot before your annuity is set up? If not, you may have difficulty in obtaining independent advice from 1st January next year - there is a real concern in our industry that the FSA has created a perception that free independent financial advice will be available after 1 January next year whereas the likelihood is that there will be a huge amount of people who will either not pay or, indeed be unable to afford to pay for financial advice.

sandsy

soperman wrote: »

there is a real concern in our industry that the FSA has created a perception that free independent financial advice will be available after 1 January next year whereas the likelihood is that there will be a huge amount of people who will either not pay or, indeed be unable to afford to pay for financial advice.

What a misleading comment! There is real concern in the industry at the moment that people think advice is free because of the commission system is opaque, and people don't generally read the disclosure documents they are given.

The introduction of explicit charges will end this perception. For a product like annuities, where commission effectively reduces the annuity income someone receives, the net effect should be nil where the charges are equivalent in value to the commission that would have been received.

atush

babyj3 wrote: »

I have read about enhanced annuities and see that a number of issues can help you enhance/ get a better pension and that Postcode/Health + Lifestyle/whether you have a long terms illness and are taking prescription medication and even previous jobs can help increase your pension but cannot find out much about these or what qualifies presumably because the industry wants you to use a financial adviser
I know a lot of people who are coming up to retirement who ask me to look for quotes for them as I have a computer - they do not want to use a financial adviser as when they have contacted them they do not just want to deal with the pension issue they want to now all about their finances/savings and my friends feel that it is none of their business and not something they want to discuss - only their pension -but advisers they have contacted will not leave it at that.I feel they may be losing out - any advice on where I can look for them

IFAs aren't the only ones.

If yua sk such a Q here, you will generally get back (certainly from me) such questions as do you have other pensions/savings/investments/debt/dependants etc before We weigh in with our own 'free' advice opinions.

really hard to say what to do, if we don't knwo teh facts. But much more so for an IFA. Just shows he is a good one, doing his job really.

dab1234

If you want to purchase yourself you can now get cashback from Premier Retirement on Quidco. £250 for a £50,000 annuity. Not bad eh?

dab1234

You get 0.5% cashback and enhanced quotes

dunstonh

dab1234 wrote: »

If you want to purchase yourself you can now get cashback from Premier Retirement on Quidco. £250 for a £50,000 annuity. Not bad eh?

HMRC treat commission rebates on pension annuities as an unauthorised payment and subject to penalty tax if found out.

You are far better off using a fee based adviser, collecting the amount of the fee only via the commission system with any surplus being used to improve the annuity rate. HMRC is perfectly fine with that.