Income

People are ‘waking up' to the reality of living longer and the effect it might have on their retirement income, research suggests.

ANNUITIES

Skandia has seen a rapid rise in the number of advisers writing flexible drawdown business on its pension platform, with figures up 200% in the past 12 months.

Women expect to receive an average of £3,000 less in joint retirement income than men, according to research from Prudential.

Defined ambition proposals could open the door to more flexible drawdown as master trusts provide both accumulation and decumulation vehicles, The Pensions Regulator says.

Alan Higham considers the potential alternatives to annuities in a retirement income strategy

In this week's quick-fire poll we ask: Should Flexible Drawdown be scrapped?

Two-thirds of advisers think the annuity system is "failing consumers" which is leading many to consider drawdown as an alternative route for clients, according to Skandia's latest adviser poll.

Shares in Just Retirement have been priced at 225p each ahead of its initial public offering (IPO), based on a market capitalisation of £1.1bn.

Phoenix clients with low paying annuities can switch out for a cash lump sum under a recently launched pilot project.