The next big thing

It is fair to say that while the likes of Japan and North America have embraced flexible retirement solutions, in the UK the concept is still in its early stages. The typical picture in the UK is that consumers’ lack of awareness results in conventional annuities being selected by default. News from MGM Advantage* stated that annuity rates fell by an average of over 1.5% in the second half of 2009. This drop underlines the need for consumers and advisers to explore all the options open to them ‘at retirement’, which includes drawdown and more flexible retirement solutions. Encouragingly,...