Risky business

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Tom Boardman highlights the benefits of annuities and discusses why drawdown should be approached with caution

There is no argument to suggest that drawdown will eventually replace annuities, although I recognise that there is a role for income drawdown and variable annuities for the right customer at the right time. I think it is important for me to define up-front what I mean by annuitisation because I don't use the term, as you might expect, to mean buying an annuity. I use annuitisation to indicate the process which puts capital at risk in exchange for receiving a mortality cross-subsidy to maximise lifetime income. Annuitisation does not have to take place at the time an annuity is bought sin...

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