How we can help your employees boost their pension buying power
As an employer, you can play your part in helping your staff make more informed pension decisions with surprisingly little effort.
You probably rely on consultants like us to supply and manage your employee benefits.
A central part of that package is likely to be a pension scheme and its associated materials to help your people make decisions as they save, as they approach retirement and when and how they take their pension.
Buying an annuity has long been one of the choices when it comes to taking a pension.
We want to make the case for annuities as part of the employee benefits retirement toolkit. Put simply, you buy an annuity with your pension pot. By handing over a lump sum, in return you get an annual income for life.
This can vary and there are different types but that’s the principle.
In recent years, annuities have been associated with poor value due to mis-selling and economic conditions. Pension Potential aims to change this.
Mis-selling took place because people were not always told about what annuities were available across the entire market – just the ones which earned a bigger commission for the adviser or benefitted their parent companies.
Another reason why they are less popular is because they are linked to interest rates and, very roughly, the higher the rate, the better the annuity. The last decade or so has been characterised by very low rates and correspondingly poor annuities.
Now that interest rates are rising again, that’s one factor set to change.
The other is the way people can find out for themselves what their savings can buy in a much simpler form than before.
Pension Potential looks at every deal on the market to make sure your people can see the most competitive options and can guide them to make an informed decision. Comparing the options doesn’t cost anything (later fees are paid by commission from the annuity provider) and we’ve strived to make it as clear and as straightforward as possible.
They can take a step-by-step, online approach to see what their savings could be turned into when it comes to a guaranteed annual income.
When it comes to deciding, Pension Potential can help them do it in a simple, easy-to-understand way.
We believe it brings to life – or animates – an important but misunderstood retirement tool which ought to play a major part in the range of retirement options your people can access.
At Punter Southall, we have a team of highly skilled risk, compliance and legal experts with deep in-house practical experience. Get in tough if you would like a friendly chat with one of us.
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