What The Association of British Insurers (ABI) Say About Comparing Annuities... "Looking ahead, more is being done to encourage consumers to check whether they can get a better deal on the open market, and to improve the overall customer experience of buying an annuity.
Significant steps are being taken to encourage consumers to look around the market, including through improving the information provided to consumers at retirement."
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What the FSA Says About Comparing Annuities...
"Buying an annuity is an important step and you do have choices. These choices are crucial because they affect how well-off you are in retirement. You should shop around for the best rate before making any decisions.
Contrary to popular understanding, you do not have to buy their annuity from the same insurance company you built your pension fund up with.
There are key questions which you need to think about to help you choose a suitable annuity which meets your needs. Questions include 'is the annuity just for you or do you have a spouse you want to provide for?' 'If you are in poor health, is a high initial income your priority?'
Annuities are complicated so you should consider getting specialist advice."
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What the Professional Pensions Publication, DC World says...
"It has been estimated that more than £1bn in pensions was lost by not getting proper advice on the best-selling annuity, reiterating the need for more awareness of the open market option."
After your death, your pension does not automatically become the property of your family; they do not get anything that's left after you die unless you opt for a Joint Life Annuity.
Remember, your pension 'belongs' to the annuity provider as they took on the risk of providing you the annuity based on how long they expected you to live.
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It is important to realise that an annuity is a one off purchase. You can't change your mind after you buy an annuity. Your decision will determine your income for the rest of your life.
Basically, an annuity is a regular income which you are guaranteed to receive over your lifetime. Most people call this annuity income a pension.
TERMS, CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY
DATA PROTECTION - PERSONAL DETAILS AND DATA PRIVACY
Your privacy is important to us, we have a strict confidentiality policy and do not share your contact details.
The personal details which you submit to us (Personal Data) are held by Smokers Annuities for its own use. It is your responsibility to ensure that your Personal Data is accurate and up to date and to inform us of any changes that need to be made. Smokers Annuities may use the Personal Data for the purposes they have notified to the Information Commissioner's Office. By submitting your Personal Data you CONSENT to it being processed by Smokers Annuities.
I/we confirm that I/we have the consent of any third party whose details I/we may disclose to Smokers Annuities ("You") to disclose such details and to authorise You and the third parties referred to in the paragraph below to process such details for the purposes of assessing my/our application and administering and enforcing any subsequent financial service which may be granted to me/us.
I/we agree that You and any advisor resulting from this application (the "advisor") shall be entitled to use and process, by any medium, the information given by me/us in this enquiry form and any other information about me/us which may be acquired during the lifetime of any enquiry ("the Data") for the following purposes:-
i. to provide the Data to and search the files of one or more credit reference or fraud prevention agencies whether before, or during the lifetime of any financial service granted to me/us by the advisor, who will keep a record of such search, to confirm the Data, and for the purposes of credit assessment or account administration. I/we understand that You and /or the advisor will record false or inaccurate information if this is given by me/us and fraud is suspected.
ii. To disclose the Data to credit reference agencies when requested by them for consideration of any future applications for finance made by me or members of my household/family, or for fraud prevention and/or tracing debtors (the agencies may also disclose the Data to other advisors for these purposes)
iii. to disclose the Data to any other company within the advisor's group of companies and/or to any third parties (for example, debt counsellors and insurers) at any time for the purposes of assessing my/our application and administering and enforcing any subsequent financial service whether during the course of my/our application or during the lifetime of any financial service granted pursuant to such application;
iv. to disclose the Data to any third party who replaces or who may replace my/our advisor.
PREVENTION OF MONEY LAUNDERING
The advisor and other organisations may use and search the records of credit reference or fraud prevention agencies to check your identity to prevent money laundering, unless you have furnished other satisfactory proof of identity.
RIGHT OF SUBJECT ACCESS
Information held by us will be processed only for purposes for which we have registered under the Data Protection Act. Upon you making a request in writing we will provide you with a copy of the information which we hold concerning you on payment of a fee.
Use of Service and Site
Use of the Smokers Annuities ("we", "us", "smokersannuities.co.uk") website ("the site") constitutes acceptance of the Smokers Annuities Website User Agreement ("the agreement") and Terms of Use ("terms"). The user of the site ("you") represent that you have read and understood these terms and agree to be bound by them.
* If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions on this page, please do not use this website. Use of any internal or external links on the Smokers Annuities website constitutes acceptance of the terms on this page. If you do not agree with these terms, please exit this site by closing the browser window.
The terms "Smokers Annuities", "smokersannuities.co.uk" encompass the Smokers Annuities Internet Site and Marketing Communications.
GOVERNING LAW
Any such contract will be interpreted, construed and enforced in all respects in accordance with the laws of England, and you and Smokers Annuities irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.
This agreement is governed by English law and all disputes will be handled solely in the United Kingdom. English Courts will have jurisdiction in respect of it. You consent to such venue and jurisdiction. The Smokers Annuities website is controlled and operated from offices in the United Kingdom and makes no representations or warranties that its content or use is legal in other locations.
COMMISSIONS
There is no charge for us investigating your policy and you are under no obligation to follow any recommendations that are made. By using a broker's service you will get advice that is paid for by the annuity company. You will not have to pay them a fee as your broker will receive a commission payment direct from the recommended annuity company. Your adviser's costs are already factored into the income that you are offered by the annuity provider.
To reiterate, if you buy a financial product, the annuity broker will normally receive commission on the sale from the product provider. Although you pay nothing up front, that does not mean our service is free. You still pay us indirectly through product charges. Product charges pay for the product provider’s own costs and any commission. These charges reduce the amount left for investment. If you buy direct, the product charges could be the same as when buying through an adviser, or they could be higher or lower. We will tell you how much the commission will be before you complete an investment, but you may ask for this information earlier.
TRANSPARENCY
This independently owned website acts as an advertising and marketing vehicle to attract passive enquiries (from people that are proactively searching for annuities using search engines or directories on the internet) and pass on such enquiries for a fee (but free to the searcher) to financial services providers. As such, the owners, webmasters and marketing professionals of this website are unable to offer financial advice. Information on this site does not constitute regulated financial advice and is intended only to provide general personal financial information. You should always consult an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) before making any financial decision. Responsibility rests with the broker to comply with the relevant regulating authorities.
Any information contained on the website does not form the basis of any contract. Business or financial decisions should not be based solely on the information contained within this website. Smokers Annuities UK is not responsible or liable for any financial service obtained through a 3rd party. An Annuity enquiry from this website does not constitute an offer to provide an annuity.
AVAILABILITY OF SERVICE
Any guidance contained within this website is subject to the UK Financial Services Authority regulatory regime and is therefore restricted to consumers based in the UK.
We do not warrant or guarantee that the Smokers Annuities website will be uninterrupted or error-free.
LINKS AND SITE CONTENT
We do not make any warrant or guarantee, either expressed or implied as to the accuracy, validity, completeness, suitability, reliability, or currency of any information content within its site or sites to which it is linked to. Links to other websites are provided solely as a resource guide and do not represent an endorsement or guarantee, either expressed or implied. The Smokers Annuities website does not assume any liability for any of the products, services, or data of any other sites. The Smokers Annuities website is a facilitator of links to the content of other sites and as such has no editorial control over the content of such linked sites in the same manner that a public library has no control over the content of the books that it distributes. It is the responsibility of the user to evaluate the information, opinion, advice, or other content contained within the site. We cannot be held responsible or liable for any loss or damage due to reliance on information obtained through the Smokers Annuities website.
INDEMNITY
In order to use this site you must agree to be legally bound and to abide by the terms and to indemnify and hold the operators of the Smokers Annuities website harmless from all alleged or actual damages, claims and expenses relating to any warrant, guarantee or representations made by the individual service providers featured within this website or linked websites. This also includes, without limitation, attorney's fees. The use of this site for any reason is deemed to be an agreement of this condition.
DISCLAIMERS
Bearing in mind that this is a free "public access" site, it is a condition of use of the site and the materials in it that use is at the user's own risk. We give no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the content of the site and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions in it or the effect it has upon your computer. We disclaim all liability in respect of such information and its provision. Neither Smokers Annuities nor any of the site's administrators, editors or contributors shall be liable for any loss or damages suffered as a result of any use of the site, including but not limited to direct loss, consequential loss and loss of profits. We do not assume, and therefore disclaim, any liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions.
Smokers Annuities is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages. This includes, without limitation and even if we are advised of the possibility thereof, any damages for loss of goodwill or any and all other commercial damages or losses including loss of profit, that result from the use of, or inability to use Smokers Annuities. Personal information sent to Smokers Annuities UK is at the senders own risk.
INFORMATION INDEMNITY
The user agrees not to rely on any information obtained from the Smokers Annuities website and indemnifies us from mistakes, omissions, errors, interruptions, delays of service or performance, defects, harmful components, viruses and bugs, howsoever caused.
SEVERANCE
If a term, covenant, provision, or condition of this agreement becomes, or shall be held by any court of competent jurisdiction to be against public policy or illegal, all remaining provisions of this agreement shall remain in full force and effect and unaffected, impaired or invalidated by this decision. The invalidated item shall be modified by the parties to the full extent possible to carry out all the intentions and directives stated in this agreement.
VARIATION
Whilst it is not our intention to do so, the operators of the Smokers Annuities Website reserves the right to change its policies and terms at any time. Any such changes will be posted on this page.
We do not assume, and therefore disclaim, any liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions.
Smokers Annuities is not associated with other companies who own similar sounding names.
If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions on this page, please do not use this website. Use of any internal or external links on the Smokers Annuities website constitutes acceptance of the terms on this page. If you do not agree with these terms, please exit this site by closing the browser window.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Design: Wink
This website is not associated with other companies or websites who own or trade under similar sounding names or with similar design. © Content Copyrighted. Certain images may be subject to trademarks.
HEADINGS
Headings are for reading convenience only and are not to be used in the interpretation of this agreement.
Contact Information
The Smokers Annuities website is an advertising vehicle for...
Retirement Solutions (UK) Ltd
3rd Floor, North Wing
Metropolitan House
Station Road
Cheadle Hulme
Cheshire SK8 7AZ
Retirement Solutions (UK) is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority 483817
Please address all your queries through our contact form below. Only authorised advisers themselves can offer support. We do hope you understand that we cannot offer phone assistance before your enquiry is allocated to an adviser. You will, of course, receive a phone call from your personal adviser as soon as possible.
If you need to contact us about business, website or operational queries, please click here.
Advice is at hand
A professional approach...
An advisor will compare annuity rates helping you to ensure that you maximise your annuity income. They will explain the different options available to you, advise on transferring existing pensions and advise on investing your tax free pension cash.
They will also of course help you with the tiresome form filling that is an unfortunate, but necessary part of the application. This will help ensure that your paperwork is processed smoothly and efficiently.
When looking for impartial advice on choosing the right annuity option, make sure that the advice is not biased. Many providers, including some banks and building societies can not advise on the annuity products of their competitors.
But surely it's easy to see which one's best?
Be careful when reading comparisons...
A company's example may include information specific to a man or woman with a certain pension pot that you may believe compares favourably to other company's annuity rates. This however doesn't necessarily mean that they give the best deal for people in your circumstances.
Discover how much extra you could receive
Compare annuity rates for smokers...
COMPLETE THIS QUICK, SIMPLE ENQUIRY - IT COULD INCREASE YOUR INCOME FOR LIFE
CONFIDENTIAL. Your privacy is important to us. We will not share your contact details. Any information you provide us with is kept private and not disclosed to unauthorised third parties.
The Smoker's Annuities quotation service is completely FREE and there is absolutely no obligation to proceed.
