Annuities

Just Retirement has announced group total sales were £184.7m in Q1 to March 31 2008, up 12.1% on the same period last year.

While annuitisation used to be a one off event today's retirees have a lot more flexibility in how they take their retirement income. Bernard Footitt looks at the options

Standard Life has reinsured £6.7bn of UK immediate annuity liabilities, more than half of its £12bn, to Canada Life International Re.

The advent of guaranteed variable annuities will force real change in the retirement markets says John Quinlivan

Pension providers must improve service to customers taking out annuities, says a Prudential-hosted panel.

While the average pension pot continues to languish around the £30,000 mark people need advice on how to get the most from their savings. Mike Morrison goes through some of the options

The use of postcodes in calculating annuities has always been controversial. Helen Morrissey finds out the pros and cons of using this approach

The Government has been very focussed on achieving political consensus on pensions, with some success especially on state pension reform. But on one area of pensions it's failed completely. No-one outside Government would pretend that the current rules...

Aegon has changed its annuities processes to allow IFAs to find instant online quotes from the Exchange or the Aegon website.

HM Revenue and Customs will clarify whether tax legislation allows pension schemes to offer an annuity under an open market option (OMO) without having to provide a pension themselves, according to the Pre-Budget Report (PBR).