Annuity Quotes and thoughts

MallyGirl

Sarahspangles said:

MetaPhysical said:

Thank you guys, exactly my thoughts too.  Indeed, simpler is not necessarily better.

We’ve lost both sets of parents recently, and keeping it simple definitely helped them. Having their pensions and annuities effectively automated and predictable was, with hindsight, an advantage.

When it came to settling their estates we found a fair amount of muddle. That’s with ‘normal’ cognitive decline rather than dementia plus the sort of distress and disruption to be expected from loss of a spouse and some periods of illness.

If we didn’t have DB pensions I would want to consider an annuity to provide at least a baseline income.

This is a really important point. In the last week it has been brought home to me that I have entered the world of the sandwich generation and that my Mum's starting to muddle her finances due to onset of dementia. I will be trying to simplify things for them over the next few months/years. Not something I look forward to

MetaPhysical

Another option is to use UFPLS now and then move to an annuity later.  I think going for the annuity at the get-go at 57 is too restrictive and has zero options once I'd pulled the trigger.

PropertyGuru_Wannabe

You can keep topping up your SIPP until you reach 75 and then consider whether you need an annuity. My opinion of annuities are they are expensive and the insurance companies need to make a profit on them.

Sarahspangles

PropertyGuru_Wannabe said:

You can keep topping up your SIPP until you reach 75 and then consider whether you need an annuity. My opinion of annuities are they are expensive and the insurance companies need to make a profit on them.

You could make the same argument about insurance.

LHW99

MetaPhysical said:

Another option is to use UFPLS now and then move to an annuity later.  I think going for the annuity at the get-go at 57 is too restrictive and has zero options once I'd pulled the trigger.

That is our plan, as apart from increases in annuity rates due to age, you may well by then have some medical conditions that would incur an "impaired life" annuity, with even higher rates.