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If you're not ready to buy an annuity yet or you just want an idea of how much your pension could be worth, use our free online annuity calculator to give you an indication of what our panel of leading annuity providers could offer you.
Lifetime Annuities
The most common way to take retirement income from a pension plan is to use the fund to buy a conventional lifetime annuity. This provides a guaranteed payment at agreed intervals for the rest of your life.
There are different types of lifetime annuities to suit your needs and circumstances. If you have more than one pension plan or scheme, you might get a better income by combining them, although you don't have to use them all at the same time.
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Enhanced Annuities
Annuity providers work out your guaranteed income by forecasting how long they think you will live. As a general rule, the more conditions you have that could reduce your life expectancy, the higher your income will be.
Providers estimate this by looking at a number of things, including where you live, your age, your gender and whether you smoke, along with any current or previous health issues including if you're overweight or have high blood pressure because these are known, on average, to reduce life expectancy. While it isn't an exact science, the annuity providers will make a best guess and pay you an amount of money according to how long they think you'll live.
Remember - enhanced lifetime annuities offer a guaranteed income for as long as you live so it's the annuity provider taking the risk, not you. If you have any of these conditions and you qualify, your income will be higher and never go down.
Not all annuity providers offer enhanced annuity rates or smokers' rates. This means that if you're eligible for an enhanced rate annuity you may not get one from your current pension provider.
It's very important that you tell us if there's anything that could make you eligible for an enhanced annuity rate. As a guide, if you can answer yes to one or more of these three questions then you could qualify for a higher income.
- - Do you smoke?
- - Do you have any condition that is controlled with prescription medicine?
- - Have you ever been in hospital?
If you're not sure whether a condition you have or have had previously is relevant, please let us know. Something that you might not consider to be important could mean that you get a higher income than standard for the rest of your life!
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1 We do not charge you a fee because we are paid by your chosen annuity provider if you choose to proceed.
