subject: Five Easy Steps To Help You Buy Annuities [print this page] An annuity is a useful financial tool that offers you with a way to provide for your retirement. Annuities are offered by insurance providers and in return for investing the bulk of your pension fund you will get a guarantee to receive an income for life. As with any product offered by insurance companies it is important to shop around and compare different rates. The rate you are offered for your annuity can depend on a number of factors including your age, sex and relationship status. For example men are generally offered more competitive rates as statistically they are less likely to live as long as women. It is important that you research annuities before you make any choices as this will be one of the most important financial investment you will ever make and could have a significant impact of your quality of life when you retire.
Here are five easy steps to help you make the right decisions when it comes to buying annuities.
Step One - Set Your Retirement Goals
Before you can decide what annuities will be best for you it is important to set some clear goals for your retirement. This will help you to understand how much money you will need. You must decide when you would like to retire and what standard of living you would expect to maintain from your retirement investments. You will also have to sit down and draft a clear outline of your current financial status. This should include all of your income, savings, investments, pension schemes and debts. You will need this information to work out how much you can afford to invest in saving for your future without putting an unnecessary strain on your current finances.
Step Two - Get Some Professional Advice
Before you buy annuities it is a good idea to get some professional advice. Independent annuity advisors will be able to go through the various options with you and offer you a number of choices based on your individual circumstances.
Step Three - Contact Your Existing Pension Provider
You do need to contact your existing pension provider to get an annuity quote based on your selected retirement date. You may wish to get a few quotes based on different criteria to see which options could provide you with the best plan for your retirement.
Step Four - Compare Products
It is essential that you compare products to see which ones can offer you the best opportunities for your future. Recent reports have shown that you could increase the value of your annuity by as much as 40% simply by changing providers. This increase represents a significant amount of money when it comes to your retirement. You can compare products quickly and easily online by using the annuity rates tables on independent financial advisor.co.uk. You could also contact a few of the more favourable annuity providers and request a personal quote in order to make fairer comparisons.
Step Five - Apply for Your Annuity
You will need to choose your preferred quote and then request an application form from the provider. Take care when you fill this in that you provide all of the information required accurately. This will help to avoid any delays in processing.
by: Gareth Hoyle
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