Tag Archives: annuities

Most of the benefits of an annuity at a fraction of the cost?

AnnuityAn annuity is a reasonable solution to an obvious problem. You don’t know how long you will live in retirement, but an annuity provider can estimate this, take a risk, and sell you an income that lasts the rest of your life. In practise this hasn’t represented good value for money, so I welcomed the budget announcement to give retirees more choice in investing or disposing of their own money. Yesterday Janice Turner argued for the Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 30 Comments

The price of trusting people with their own money

pensionsThe world of the private “Defined Contribution” pension is one that sees so many hidden fees it has been described as generating a greater return for the financial services industry than it does the saver. A large bite of this comes with the annuity purchase, where the pension pot, built up over the years, is spent on an annuity, converting a cash sum into a fixed (or index-linked) income for life.

Annuity purchase represents a kind of insurance against getting too old and running out of money.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 52 Comments

The battle for pensioners’ votes begins with Cameron on Liberal Democrat turf

The latest Ashcroft polling shows that the Conservatives have a long way to go to be within a shout of victory, with 37% of those who voted Tory saying at the moment that they would not do so if there were an election tomorrow. It’s hardly surprising, then, that David Cameron kicks off the next stage in the 2015 election campaign, in an interview with today’s Sunday Times (£), by pledging to stick to one of the Coalition’s most successful policies through another Parliament.

The Tories have previous for trying to claim the credit for a Liberal Democrat policy. Last …

Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 20 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Simon Robinson
    'One Nation Liberals' sounds an interesting group, but googling to find out about them draws pretty much a complete blank, apart from a Guardian article about C...
  • Mark Smulian
    Good to see Attila Borzak still active in the party (see Bosmere above). I recall him from London Liberal Party in the mid-1980s when he was also one of the ver...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Thanks to Tom Arms and Matt Wardman for the relevant and interesting article and comment. In short, might it be that the USA opposes the U. N. because its ba...
  • Chloe
    Paul; At that rate are you suggesting Reform will struggle to hold onto their remaining MPs at the next election ? I understand you're narrative, but let's not ...
  • Nonconformistradical
    Jason Connor asks a fair question:- "I do wonder what level of support these LD candidates are getting. Did leaflets go out or just paper candidates?" Were ...