Restrictive Advice

Mr_Benn

When looking at quotes for Annuities / Pensions, did anybody talk to more than one Financial Advisor ?

I originally thought that would be sensible, to get more than one quote, but maybe thats not common practice (the Advisor Im using said she would not continue if I was using another as well ).   

dunstonh

Mr_Benn said:

I did drop into a conversation with the Financial Advisor, that I would be looking to compare rates with another Finance person. She said that if I was to use another IFA then she wouldnt continue with me. 

I dodnt know if thats common practice, or just trying to stop me going elsewhere as well ?!    :-)

In most areas of financial services, an IFA will be able to get better terms/options than an FA.    So, she is probably saying it to save wasting hers and your time.

Many advisers are busy and working above capacity.   So, they may have a low tolerance for time wasters or where its likely that an alternative adviser would come in better.      To be blunt, your case is a low earner for the amount of work required. So, that could be coming into play as well.

hotncold47

Following these Annuity threads with interest as have been monitoring Moneyhelper, Hargreaves Lansdown for a couple of weeks, also got a quote from Retirement Line. I was suprised that each quote was exactly the same to a £? Also the order of best Annuity rate by Provider to worst was exactly the same, so it looks like they are working of the same spreadsheet, is this the case?

Also over the period the quote has remained the same so I'm wondering how often rates are adjusted weekly? monthly? TIA.

dunstonh

Following these Annuity threads with interest as have been monitoring Moneyhelper, Hargreaves Lansdown for a couple of weeks, also got a quote from Retirement Line. I was suprised that each quote was exactly the same to a £?

If they are all taking the same commission and there is no health issues, then you would expect that similarity.

 Also the order of best Annuity rate by Provider to worst was exactly the same, so it looks like they are working of the same spreadsheet, is this the case?

Spreadsheets are not used.   There are three main quote engines for annuities for distributors to use (and a couple of smaller or bespoke ones).   All use the same APIs and get the same data.  

Also over the period the quote has remained the same so I'm wondering how often rates are adjusted weekly? monthly? TIA.

Several providers are in real time, although typically that is only via IFAs (as it involves manual work and the direct services tend to be automated); otherwise, the potential to change is daily.    And over the last few weeks annuity rates have been falling with several changes every few days.

Fermion

hotncold47 said:

Following these Annuity threads with interest as have been monitoring Moneyhelper, Hargreaves Lansdown for a couple of weeks, also got a quote from Retirement Line. I was suprised that each quote was exactly the same to a £? Also the order of best Annuity rate by Provider to worst was exactly the same, so it looks like they are working of the same spreadsheet, is this the case?

Also over the period the quote has remained the same so I'm wondering how often rates are adjusted weekly? monthly? TIA.

Interesting that we have just arranged 2 joint life Annuities with L&G via HL for myself and my wife. Pleasantly surprised that in both cases when we made the application via HL the final Annuity figure was increased by about 3%. Just wonder the reason for that? Did L&G give HL an extra volume discount?

dunstonh

Fermion said:

hotncold47 said:

Following these Annuity threads with interest as have been monitoring Moneyhelper, Hargreaves Lansdown for a couple of weeks, also got a quote from Retirement Line. I was suprised that each quote was exactly the same to a £? Also the order of best Annuity rate by Provider to worst was exactly the same, so it looks like they are working of the same spreadsheet, is this the case?

Also over the period the quote has remained the same so I'm wondering how often rates are adjusted weekly? monthly? TIA.

Interesting that we have just arranged 2 joint life Annuities with L&G via HL for myself and my wife. Pleasantly surprised that in both cases when we made the application via HL the final Annuity figure was increased by about 3%. Just wonder the reason for that? Did L&G give HL an extra volume discount?

All firms would check the annuity rates again on application to see if the rate has changed and if the same or better, they would use the new quote to lock in a longer guarnatee period and the same or higher rate.

I don't know when you did yours, but L&G increased their annuity rates on the 3rd October.