Learn The Basics Of UK Annuity Rates To Obtain Maximum Benefit

Annuity rates are the rates that you will be receiving from your pension annuities. Such annuity rates are normally based on index-linked gilts and securities that provide a regular index-linked income, apart from offering you a fixed redemption value at a particular time in future. Normally, the annuity rates will decline with time due to lower inflation levels and expectancy of longer life. Further, the inflation will also erode the actual value of the money and the exact buying of power of the annuities being held by you from your pension benefit would invariably be lesser.

However, the effects of inflation could be countered by adding open market options that contain escalation features. This would help the holder of the pension annuities to obtain best annuity rates and increase the income over time. Still, the initial income in opting for such a scheme will be significantly lower than the conventional annuity schemes. Similarly, the annuity rates will be adversely affected by the inclusion of other benefits, such as adding the income of the spouse or a specific guaranteed payment period to protect against the risk of early death of the annuity holder.

An individual can buy an annuity through a personal or a company money purchase fund. To obtain the highest pension annuity rates, the open market option is the ideal one. The additional features mentioned above can be added at the time of purchase but they cannot be added later. Moreover, to obtain the best annuity rates, you should compare the annuity rates offered by different pension annuity providers by asking for quotes from several such providers. You should select only the pension annuity scheme that offers guaranteed annuity rates and accurate income forecasts.

Annuity rates are paid every month as gross income before tax deduction. Level annuity rates will fetch you the same income every month as long as you are alive. Level annuity rates and 50% spouse rate schemes will pay the stipulated income every month throughout your life and after your death, your spouse will be eligible for 50% of the stipulated income until the death of the spouse. In the United Kingdom, annuity rates are applicable to single males and females between the ages of 50 and 74. The pension annuity rates do not include any medical benefits or enhancements. All the annuity rates assume that the female will survive for a longer period than a male and hence, the monthly annuity payments will be higher for a female than for a male.

The income payable to a person who had retired in September 2008 and opted for a pension annuity scheme had been significantly higher than the income assured to a person retiring in September 2009 and purchasing an annuity. The decrease in the income was in the range between 6% and 9.4% for single males and single females between the ages of 50 and 74. This clearly reveals that the economic downturn had an appreciable impact in the pension annuity rates offered by the pension annuity service providers in the UK.