SAGA — Doing things properly

Over your lifetime you accumulate your money in a pension pot where the money is invested for growth. When you reach your retirement, you use your pension pot to pay a lump sum to an insurance company to buy a regular income.

The value of the income may vary depending on various factors. Click here to find out more.

Once you buy an annuity you will have 14 days to change your mind. After that you cannot change the provider or product. This is why it is some important to make the right decision at the outset.

Our initial consultation is free, and in fact if you don't pay us we will receive commission from the product provider once we have completed our advice and annuity purchase. This will not affect the amount of income you get.

We will have a detailed conversation with you to understand your lifestyle and your requirements. On this basis we will advise you on the most suitable retirement income option available to you including annuities, but we will also look at phased retirement or income draw down (unsecured pension) options.

Once we understand what annuity type is most suitable we will research the whole market and find the best possible annuity quote for you at the time.

The examples are real life cases, however to protect the individuals the names have been changed. Figures quotes are gross, and after any tax free cash has been taken.

Worked examples of increases to annuity rates, by using the Open Market Option.

Example 1 – Impaired

A male client aged 59 had a history of two types of cancer over the last 10 years, and was also an occasional smoker.

The existing pension company that the client held his fund with offered an income of £4095.84 (7.0%) pa based on a fund value of £58000.

However after the fund had been placed on the Open Market, an alternative company specialising in impaired lives or clients with poor health was able to offer in income of £5356.44 (9.2%) pa, giving an improvement in rate of 31%.

Click here to view more case studies.

Our service is designed to help customers to arrange their income for retirement. We advise customers on most suitable annuities and guide them through other retirement options. We are independent financial advisers, not tied to any particular bank or insurance company leaving us free to make an unbiased, objective search of the whole market place to find you the right product on the best available terms. As an established company in the market place we can negotiate better product terms with providers, which may not be available to other institutions. Our initial consultation is free without obligation. If you would like to arrange a consultation with our adviser please contact us on 0800 300 555.

Your pension scheme will normally give you an estimate of the value of your fund before you retire. You may also be advised on what annuity income your pension provider may arrange for you. If you would like compare this income with other alternatives, please contact us on 0800 300 555.

Our advisers will asses all your plans and find the annuity and income that can be achieved from your plans.

We can help customers with private and occupational plans with individual value of more than £10,000 or total value of all pension plans exceeding £20,000 after the tax free cash is taken. If your pension plans value is less than our minimum, you may not be able to fully benefit from open market option due to the timescales it may take to arrange your annuity and the minimal gain you may achieve. Please speak to your existing pension provider about arranging your income. Additionally if your total pension fund do not exceed £16,000 and you are between the ages of 60 – 75, you might be able to take the whole amount as cash, of which 25% will be tax free.