Becoming a smoker shortly before buying annuity

onthewayout

I've heard about "impaired life" annuities, offering better pension payouts to people who have chronic medical problems, and (ahem) might not spend so long collecting the money.

Would a healthy person who wasn't a regular smoker, but decided to take up the filthy habit 6 months before retiring, be able to get one of these? Would the amount smoked make a difference?

I am too young for this to be an immediate issue, but I have a friend who will retire in a few years, and a couple of times we smoked cigars together. He mentioned the impaired life pensions, and it got me thinking. I've never been a regular smoker, and I seriously dislike the smell of stale cigarettes, but I could imagine picking up a moderate cigar habit as I get older.

As I said, not anything immediate, and I'm really just curious if the loophole is as big as it seems.

Oblivion

You'd probably have an improved expectancy of dying from lung cancer than improving your pension.

onthewayout

Yes, I know smoking isn't good for me. Kinda the point :-) And as a sixtysomething, isn't another problem likely to get me before the lung cancer?

Oblivion wrote: »

You'd probably have an improved expectancy of dying from lung cancer than improving your pension.

dunstonh

smoking is not to do with impaired annuities. It is enhanced annuities.

Would a healthy person who wasn't a regular smoker, but decided to take up the filthy habit 6 months before retiring, be able to get one of these?

no.

I'm really just curious if the loophole is as big as it seems.

There is no loophole. You would be committing fraud too.

McKneff

You would be also quite mad to take up smoking just to get a few pounds extra a month.


Ive never heard anything so silly on these forums in all the years I have been on......




I smoked 50 years, stopped last year and it was hard, very hard, I wish I had never started as a young teenager.

Bootsox

McKneff wrote: »

You would be also quite mad to take up smoking just to get a few pounds extra a month.

Ive never heard anything so silly on these forums in all the years I have been on......

I smoked 50 years, stopped last year and it was hard, very hard, I wish I had never started as a young teenager.

Not as daft as smoking for 50 years, what a waste of time, effort and money.

bmm78

onthewayout wrote: »

Would a healthy person who wasn't a regular smoker, but decided to take up the filthy habit 6 months before retiring, be able to get one of these? Would the amount smoked make a difference?

I am too young for this to be an immediate issue, but I have a friend who will retire in a few years, and a couple of times we smoked cigars together. He mentioned the impaired life pensions, and it got me thinking. I've never been a regular smoker, and I seriously dislike the smell of stale cigarettes, but I could imagine picking up a moderate cigar habit as I get older.

As I said, not anything immediate, and I'm really just curious if the loophole is as big as it seems

It varies from provider to provider, but typically you need to have smoked 10 manufactured cigs a day for 10 years. Cigar and pipe smokers tend to get short shrift and most don't qualify.

The system can't be gamed for the simple reason that insurers are not stupid and do actually check these things. There are a lot of people out there now sitting on rubbish annuities because they lied about being smokers (or the amount they smoked), and were rumbled following a cotinine test.

The only thing resembling a loophole is if you quit smoking or make other improvements to your health/lifestyle once safely in receipt of annuity payments. Annuity rates are based on a snapshot estimation of life expectancy, and do not take account of any changes once the annuity has been set up. Obviously not a foolproof plan by any means.

onthewayout

I do know smoking is unhealthy, but "never heard anything so silly"? Doesn't lung cancer normally take decades to develop, which means waiting til my sixties to start would probably mean something else gets me first?

Even more confused about the fraud comment. What's fraudulent about saying I smoke, if I do?

Anyway, thanks for replies!

onthewayout

Thank you for a detailed answer BMM. Sounds like my cunning plan has been foiled... :-)

bmm78 wrote: »

It varies from provider to provider, but typically you need to have smoked 10 manufactured cigs a day for 10 years. Cigar and pipe smokers tend to get short shrift and most don't qualify.

The system can't be gamed for the simple reason that insurers are not stupid and do actually check these things. There are a lot of people out there now sitting on rubbish annuities because they lied about being smokers (or the amount they smoked), and were rumbled following a cotinine test.

The only thing resembling a loophole is if you quit smoking or make other improvements to your health/lifestyle once safely in receipt of annuity payments. Annuity rates are based on a snapshot estimation of life expectancy, and do not take account of any changes once the annuity has been set up. Obviously not a foolproof plan by any means.

saver861

onthewayout wrote: »

I do know smoking is unhealthy, but "never heard anything so silly"?

Dude .... you got too much 'thinking' time on your hands.

Its a pretty stupid idea ....

onthewayout wrote: »

Doesn't lung cancer normally take decades to develop, which means waiting til my sixties to start would probably mean something else gets me first?

Well, I figure if you keep coming up with such daft ideas, then yeah, its likely something else will get you longggggg before you get to 60!!!

bowlhead99

saver861 wrote: »

Dude .... you got too much 'thinking' time on your hands.

Its a pretty stupid idea ....

Well, I figure if you keep coming up with such daft ideas, then yeah, its likely something else will get you longggggg before you get to 60!!!

Hmm, if I microwave my balls every evening, can I get cheaper life insurance because I'm more likely to die of cancer? If so, where do I sign.

Oh, err, wait...