Annuities – What are they?

Buying a Pension Annuity means that you are converting your pension fund into an income that will be paid for the rest of your life. A Pension Annuity is a Secured Pension because the income amount is guaranteed for life, unlike a Drawdown plan which is an Unsecured Pension (USP).

A Pension Annuity can be purchased with the entire pension fund that is available or it can be from funds after the tax-free cash (usually 25%) that you are entitled to has been taken. The amount of income you are entitled to will depend on the Pension Annuity rate at the time of purchase. The Pension Annuity and its terms are fixed at the outset whereas a Drawdown plan allows you to vary the income payments.

Download our comprehensive pension options guide by clicking on the above image.

Financial Advisers

Jonathan Walker
Jonathan is the director and joint owner of the Pension Drawdown Company.

Robert Bolton
Robert is a practising Barrister and is also fully qualified as a Diplomaed Financial Adviser.

Bob Diamond
Bob is a Pension Specialist who has been with the company since its incorporation in 1996. Bob has been a financial adviser since 1989.

Andrew Ross
Andrew is a diplomaed financial adviser with a history in banking.

Roger Easterbrook
Roger is a diplomaed financial adviser with a background in Executive Search.

Click here for more team members.

Market Monitor

Updated: 14th May 2012

Heavy selling following the elections in Europe and banking woes in Spain resulted in markets ending the week lower. Weekend elections in Greece and France set a volatile tone and reminded investors that politics really matter in financial markets; political wrangling in Athens to form a government resulted in threats to unravel the country's bailout deal and raised the prospect of Greece exiting the euro area.

Global stocks had their longest losing period in six months during the week and the euro its worse run of daily reverses since 2008.

However, Thursday marked a turning point as investors cautiously returned to markets and risk assets showed resilience following $2bn trading losses at JPMorgan Chase (which also occurred on Thursday). In addition, the Michigan survey of US consumer confidence, which rose to a four-year high in May, also helped to provide support and end the week on a more upbeat note.

The increasingly gloomy outlook for the global economy sent commodity prices to their second week of losses, and gold retreated to four month lows. Weakness in the global economy drove demand for safe-haven government bonds, which pushed German bunds and UK gilts to record lows, while peripheral eurozone debt came under heavy selling pressure.

Important information: This update is intended to be for information purposes only.

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