Current annuity rates

[Deleted User]

wjr4 said:

Deleted_User said:

dunstonh said:

” Also, nobody labels themselves as annuity specialist it’s in the UK.”  Purely factual claim which happens to be false. In fact there are lots of people and companies in the UK who claim they are annuity specialists.  Whether they all are or not is questionable and individual qualifications and experience have to be established but the original claim was a lie, 

A company marketing itself as something doesn't mean that they are actually something official.  For example, there are only a small number of websites that refer to themselves as annuity specialists.  However, delve deeper and you find they are IFAs or FAs and have websites covering multiple business areas where they claim to be specialists.  It is just marketing.   Those that do online quotes don't use specialists.  They have unregulated clerical staff keying in details that consumers have given them to see who pops up top using the chosen options.  No advice given.  From a regulatory point of view, an IFA is the annuity specialist. 

Firstly, I don’t care one bit for “something official”. 

Secondly, from a regulatory point of view, British financial services market has been ridden with scandals and questions have been raised about the competence of the regulators.

That aside, an annuity specialist may well be an IFA or an FA but my point is that it’s far from any of the street guy with abbreviations which are far too easy to acquire. 

I think you need to stick to forums from your own continent. 

I am a British citizen, a British voter with pensions in Britain.  Living in Canada.  What’s your problem?  Other than the obvious. 

zagfles

Looks like the brief period of good value gilts and annuities has ended, that was quick!

QrizB

zagfles said:

Looks like the brief period of good value gilts and annuities has ended, that was quick!

HL's chart is interesting:

[Deleted User]

zagfles said:

Looks like the brief period of good value gilts and annuities has ended, that was quick!

That really depends on how you define “good value”.  If in comparison to other fixed income assets, then to say this about annuities you’d need Monte Carlo simulations.  You can do it deterministically too but won’t give you the full picture. 

Saying the “annuity payout rates dropped” would be accurate but is no reflection of value. The risks are different today and the cost of bonds reflects that. Price isn’t the full story about “value”; otherwise we’d have to admit that Venezuelan bonds provide awesome “value”. 

zagfles

QrizB said:

zagfles said:

Looks like the brief period of good value gilts and annuities has ended, that was quick!

HL's chart is interesting:

Looks like those are flat annuities, even a 7-9% return doesn't look good when inflation is over 10%.

The index linked gilts I've been looking at have risen about 10% since last week.

zagfles

Deleted_User said:

zagfles said:

Looks like the brief period of good value gilts and annuities has ended, that was quick!

That really depends on how you define “good value”.  If in comparison to other fixed income assets, then to say this about annuities you’d need Monte Carlo simulations.  You can do it deterministically too but won’t give you the full picture. 

Saying the “annuity payout rates dropped” would be accurate but is no reflection of value. The risks are different today and the cost of bonds reflects that. Price isn’t the full story about “value”; otherwise we’d have to admit that Venezuelan bonds provide awesome “value”. 

For gilts I'd define good value as guaranteed (within reason) to keep value in real terms. That was possible a week ago, it looks harder now (although still possible depending on timescale). Index linked gilts have gone up about 10%

Comparisons with other investments are irrelavant IMO. You don't buy gilts to beat other investments, you buy them for safety. Comparing gilts with other fixed income assets is a bit like comparing a safe with a piggy bank. Yeah the piggy bank is cheaper, but it doesn't provide the same function as a safe.

westv

QrizB said:

zagfles said:

Looks like the brief period of good value gilts and annuities has ended, that was quick!

HL's chart is interesting:

Best in something like 14 years.