My Annuity Purchase

deeleys

Hi All

I'm 55 and just had an annuity quote directly from Aviva.  It's enhanced, level term and works out just over 7% for £100K guaranteed for 10 years.  £200 less per year if I took the guaranteed protection option.  Would going through a Financial adviser get me a better rate?

DRS1

Part of Aviva's quote ought to be a statement whether you can get a better rate elsewhere.

Or you could put your details in an online annuity quote tool.  HL have one here

Annuity Quote | Hargreaves Lansdown

dunstonh

deeleys said:

Hi All

I'm 55 and just had an annuity quote directly from Aviva.  It's enhanced, level term and works out just over 7% for £100K guaranteed for 10 years.  £200 less per year if I took the guaranteed protection option.  Would going through a Financial adviser get me a better rate?

Possibly. 

Aviva haven't been coming out top for me on any of my recent quotes.  They are better typically on certain medical conditions.   it would be silly to just look at Aviva in isolation and not the whole of market.

Part of Aviva's quote ought to be a statement whether you can get a better rate elsewhere.

You cannot rely on that that.   Plenty of times I have seen the top quote say its not the best and a lower quote via a different distribution channel say it was the best when it wasn't.

deeleys

DRS1 said:

Part of Aviva's quote ought to be a statement whether you can get a better rate elsewhere.

Or you could put your details in an online annuity quote tool.  HL have one here

Annuity Quote | Hargreaves Lansdown

Thanks, Aviva said they were the best for the 10 year fix and £34 less per year in comparison to the best guaranteed protection.  I was wondering whether it would be worth going through a Financial Advisor who might be able to get a better "special" rate or are the direct quotes and calculators already giving the best rates?

Brie

Any advice on how to choose one provider over another.  For some reason I'm thinking of Aviva.  But Standard Life comes out on top in all the quotes but only by a couple of pounds a month.

AND having read stuff here am looking at RPI rather than 3% for increases.  And considering whether I want a TFLS.  I could recycle it in some fashion I'm sure.  (take it first before setting up an annuity and then adding it back in based on my current income??)

DRS1

deeleys said:

DRS1 said:

Part of Aviva's quote ought to be a statement whether you can get a better rate elsewhere.

Or you could put your details in an online annuity quote tool.  HL have one here

Annuity Quote | Hargreaves Lansdown

Thanks, Aviva said they were the best for the 10 year fix and £34 less per year in comparison to the best guaranteed protection.  I was wondering whether it would be worth going through a Financial Advisor who might be able to get a better "special" rate or are the direct quotes and calculators already giving the best rates?

First thing - people on here will tell you to use an IFA (not an FA).  I for Independent.  The problem will be finding one.  

Using the HL quote will at least get you some alternative quotes and will let you see where Aviva sit in the list.  It also lets you play around with different types of annuity (guarantee/no guarantee,  level/RPI/3% increases etc).  The good thing is they don't follow up with a call so you don't have to say thanks but no thanks.  Moneyhelper also has an annuity quote tool which may give you slightly different quotes.

That said there will be commission payable when you buy an annuity (I suspect even if you buy direct from Aviva) and using an IFA can give you the chance to get a lower commission rate in return for paying the IFA a fee.  So yes you may get a better overall deal using an IFA.

I confess I did not use an IFA - just an annuity broker called Retirement Line (who did have a claim on their website that they would not be beaten on their quotes - though that actually meant that if you could find a better like for like quote they would pay you £250).

DRS1

Brie said:

Any advice on how to choose one provider over another.  For some reason I'm thinking of Aviva.  But Standard Life comes out on top in all the quotes but only by a couple of pounds a month.

AND having read stuff here am looking at RPI rather than 3% for increases.  And considering whether I want a TFLS.  I could recycle it in some fashion I'm sure.  (take it first before setting up an annuity and then adding it back in based on my current income??)

I think most people would go for the highest quote.

I did ask if there were any reasons not to go with the highest quote and was told that the only time it had happened was when someone had had a bad experience in the past with the company giving the highest quote.

Another possible factor, if you are consolidating a number of pensions, is that some annuity providers will start the annuity as and when they get the transfers in rather than waiting until the last one has arrived.  In my case there was nearly a month between the first transfer and the last so maybe I should have gone for that.

Secret2ndAccount

Small update for you. I received the 33k lump sum fairly swiftly. I have now received the first monthly payment.  I am a 20% taxpayer, but zero tax was deducted from this first payment. Scottish Widows sent me two identical copies of my paperwork on successive days; nice to see my money being deployed efficiently
I am happy with the service I have received from:
Retirement Line
Scottish Widows
Interactive Investor
HMRC

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Secret2ndAccount said:

Small update for you. I received the 33k lump sum fairly swiftly. I have now received the first monthly payment.  I am a 20% taxpayer, but zero tax was deducted from this first payment. Scottish Widows sent me two identical copies of my paperwork on successive days; nice to see my money being deployed efficiently
I am happy with the service I have received from:
Retirement Line
Scottish Widows
Interactive Investor
HMRC

Unfortunately that is the current process.

Other than for "small pots" and one or two other situations the pension company has to use the emergency tax code (1257L) on the first payment.

Which is ok for some people but for others it can mean insufficient tax or too much tax.