Blog - Wealth Management Blog

How to avoid a pension disaster

The National Association of Pension Funds this week estimated that around 500,000 people retiring each year miss out on up to £1 billion in pension income.

This figure is set to treble over the next decade and those on the lowest incomes will be the hardest hit.

Basically, the financial cost that come with failing to ensure people get the right pension advice is ever growing.  

The problem is that when workers with defined-contribution pensions come to retire they have to decide exactly what to do with their pension funds, with insufficient information or access to advice.

With annuity rates at a record low, retirees must be given every chance to get the best deal for their lifetime savings.

Whilst there is a difference of some 20 per cent a year between the income paid by the best annuity on the market and the worst, more than half of people automatically take the deal offered by their existing provider.

On Friday, the Association of British Insurers ended the latest consultation aimed at improving the annuity process. It said it wants members to do more to encourage customers to shop around for their annuities.

For advice on your pension fund please contact Paul Bradshaw at McEwan Wallace Wealth Management on 0151 647 6682 or email enquiries@wallace.co.uk.