Aviva Pension Plan and Personal Information

RandAMS

I've got a small (worth about £1900pa) pension pot with Aviva about to pay out, and I recently received in the post a document pack to fill in to get a quote on the options available to me.
One of the documents is an optional form looking for information about height, weight, alcohol consumption, are you a smoker, and various other medical conditions (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, MS, stroke, cancer, etc.). Apparently if I fill this in I *might* get a higher income from the pot.
This is the first time I've come across this and was wondering if anyone else has had the same experience, and did it make any difference, financially?

vacheron

This happens a lot with annuities, if they think you are destined not to live as long, they may pay you more money.

You will often get asked similar questions when taking out life insurance, but for the opposite reason. 

dunstonh

One of the documents is an optional form looking for information about height, weight, alcohol consumption, are you a smoker, and various other medical conditions (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, MS, stroke, cancer, etc.). Apparently if I fill this in I *might* get a higher income from the pot.

Correct. 

This is the first time I've come across this and was wondering if anyone else has had the same experience, and did it make any difference, financially?

Everybody that buys an annuity and yes it can make a difference.

MeteredOut

With annuities now (for some) back to being a viable option, I wonder how many people are now taking up smoking as part of their last few years of retirement planning

Cobbler_tone

MeteredOut said:

With annuities now (for some) back to being a viable option, I wonder how many people are now taking up smoking as part of their last few years of retirement planning

"I smoke 60 a day and at the weekend enjoy 10 pints and a kebab on a Saturday night. Other than the odd chest pain I am in good health" 

DRS1

They may very well ask your doctor to confirm your health.

Aviva may not provide the best annuity whether you are healthy or not.  The documents will no doubt tell you to shop around and it is worth putting your details (including health if relevant) through an online annuity calculator to see how the quote Aviva gives you compares to others.  Their quote should also say if they can be beaten but that is a bit hit and miss so best to check for yourself.

Albermarle

Cobbler_tone said:

MeteredOut said:

With annuities now (for some) back to being a viable option, I wonder how many people are now taking up smoking as part of their last few years of retirement planning

"I smoke 60 a day and at the weekend enjoy 10 pints and a kebab on a Saturday night. Other than the odd chest pain I am in good health" 

Joking apart, I have wondered before how they can tell if you are exaggerating. Say if you said you drank 75 units of alcohol but only actually drank half of that.
Although 14 is the recommended level, the risks only start to increase significantly above about 40 units.