Investors face lifetime annuity conundrum-Hargreaves

Since 1990, annuity rates have followed an almost unchecked downward trend driven by increasing life expectancies and relatively stable inflation rates. This pattern – which has occurred in 18 of the past 20 years – meant most investors bought a lifetime annuity in order to take advantage of a better price today. However, while some fund managers – most notably M&G – remain bullish on bonds in anticipation of relatively muted economic activity, others are beginning to question the stability of the ‘bond bubble’. Hargreaves Lansdown head of pensions research Tom McPhail says the fir...