Annuity quotes - don't understand

dunstonh

squirrelpie said:

dunstonh said:

Why are our ages relevant to my question?

Age is one of the most important pricing points.  And with 100% spouse, they will look at the longest life expectancy from both of you vs single life where it is just your life expectancy.

Yes, I understand all that. But how can a joint life quote be better than a single life quote for one of the couple?

Does the spouse have medical conditions that result in an enhanced annuity being quoted vs a single life with no medical conditions resulting in a standard lifetime annuity?

DRS1

squirrelpie said:

I am male and my wife is female. I'm not including any guarantees or anything. I selected RPI inflation protection. My wife has several health conditions, but I don't see why taking her off the quote would make the quote better. Why are our ages relevant to my question?

I haven't yet got quotes from an alternative source. I was hoping to understand the reason before I did.

I thought you said it made the quote worse. "Then I did one with just my own life to see how much it would improve, but the result was worse than the 50% joint rate!"
Having a health condition can improve the annuity rate.  A quote for a healthy person will presumably be worse than for a couple where one has a health condition (though I am guessing there)
I agree that you would think covering two people would be more expensive than one but if you look at the best annuity rates on HL's site there are some places where a joint life is cheaper than a single (albeit with different pension increases and only at certain ages.)

FIREDreamer

You get less annuity income if you suffer from high blood pressure and cholesterol!

Presumably because your health is being monitored which should improve your longevity.

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dunstonh

You get less annuity income if you suffer from high blood pressure and cholesterol!

In those rare scenarios, you would not apply for the enhanced lifetime annuity but instead go with the standard lifetime annuity rate.   So, HL's scenario wouldn't happen in real life (although theoretically it could if the person didn't realise they could revert to standard terms)

squirrelpie

DRS1 said:

squirrelpie said:

I am male and my wife is female. I'm not including any guarantees or anything. I selected RPI inflation protection. My wife has several health conditions, but I don't see why taking her off the quote would make the quote better. Why are our ages relevant to my question?

I haven't yet got quotes from an alternative source. I was hoping to understand the reason before I did.

I thought you said it made the quote worse. "Then I did one with just my own life to see how much it would improve, but the result was worse than the 50% joint rate!"
Having a health condition can improve the annuity rate.  A quote for a healthy person will presumably be worse than for a couple where one has a health condition (though I am guessing there)
I agree that you would think covering two people would be more expensive than one but if you look at the best annuity rates on HL's site there are some places where a joint life is cheaper than a single (albeit with different pension increases and only at certain ages.)

Sorry, yes a typo in the latter post. I was right the first time!

squirrelpie

DRS1 said:

squirrelpie said:

I am male and my wife is female. I'm not including any guarantees or anything. I selected RPI inflation protection. My wife has several health conditions, but I don't see why taking her off the quote would make the quote better. Why are our ages relevant to my question?

I haven't yet got quotes from an alternative source. I was hoping to understand the reason before I did.

I thought you said it made the quote worse. "Then I did one with just my own life to see how much it would improve, but the result was worse than the 50% joint rate!"
Having a health condition can improve the annuity rate.  A quote for a healthy person will presumably be worse than for a couple where one has a health condition (though I am guessing there)
I agree that you would think covering two people would be more expensive than one but if you look at the best annuity rates on HL's site there are some places where a joint life is cheaper than a single (albeit with different pension increases and only at certain ages.)

Yes, I think you're right. I was hung up on the idea that a quote on joint lives must be worse than a single, but that came from thinking about 100% continuance rates. If I think about the 50% continuance rate and if they think she'll die before me then they will pay less than paying 100% over my lifetime. Obvious really, once you know!