The budget, pensions and conscious uncoupling

It is 2 weeks since the Chancellor announced changes (some actual some proposed) in his Budget to how pensions may be dealt with in the future. During the past 2 weeks there has been much hyperbole and ill-informed comment in the media announcing the 'Death of Annuities'.  It is my opinion that Mark Twain's comment 'Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated ' is most apt.

What has prompted this outburst of hyperbole has been the proposal that at retirement indeed not just retirement but from age 55 someone with a defined contribution pension (often referred to as money purchase) can take the whole fund as cash. There is no need to buy an annuity. To the media this 'liberation' has fuelled the speculation that no one will buy an annuity and the annuity market is dead.

I beg to differ.

The majority of people who have a defined contribution pension are prudent individuals who understand the value of their pension. On the whole these are people who each month have put aside £100 or...

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