The Open Market Option is a facility incorporated in the Finance Act 1981 which enables anyone taking their pension benefits to compare what their own Pension Provider is offering with any better rate available in the rest of the market-place and to allow them to transfer their benefits to that provider if it is more suitable for them.

This option is still not widely known among people approaching retirement.  Perhaps that’s not so surprising when it is something you might only do once in your lifetime, but that makes it all the more important to get it right.

At one time if you saved up a pension fund then when you took your pension payments you had to buy it at the rate set by your Pension Company-and no other.  You couldn't shop around - you were stuck with their rates.

However nowadays you can, you should, always consider shopping around.  As it is a complex subject it pays to take advice and ideally, nothing beats personal, face-to-face advice with an expert in this field.

Newspaper articles frequently comment on the advisability of comparing what your pension company offers you with what their competitors can provide but even after 30 years of the Open Market Option, surveys indicate that only about a quarter of people who have bought annuities actually took advice or even considered other options.
So you need to consider what you already have.  However I would usually expect to be able to improve your pension by helping you to search out the best of the current rates and compare them to your current offering, - as well as advising you on the best way to take the benefits.  In a world of faceless phone and internet-based information sources face-to-face expert advice is a facility worth having.

There are pitfalls to just taking what your Pension Company offers you.  It could be they don’t necessarily understand your current situation, the age of your spouse, or your health, or perhaps how the rest of your financial circumstance affect how important the pension income and Tax-Free Cash is to your situation.  On the other hand the options and features in your current plan may be very important indeed.  For instance one of your funds might have a guaranteed annuity rate built in but it might only apply on one such certain date or apply on your life only, - excluding a spouse.  

That’s why discussing your options and how they fit in with your personal circumstances is so very important.  It’s why we offer personal Independent Financial Advice on this subject.  It’s possibly the most important financial decision you might make from now on.  It makes sense to get the best advice you can.  Call today for a better retirement income.

Enhanced Annuities and the Open Market Option.

In addition to the advantages the Open Market Option can offer, nowadays we also have health, lifestyle e.g. smoking, postcode and occupational enhancements.  

The current adverts from Aviva featuring Paul Whitehouse highlight the advantages of shopping around.  They are a superb showcase for what can be done.  Aviva are a leading provider for such annuities. However, we as fully Independent Financial Advisers go even further than that.

It is not at all unusual for me to help someone increase their guaranteed pension by say 15 to 20% at no cost to them

These rates are taken from an actual case involving a recent option I advised on.

In the last stage we obtained a rate for our client of £2,199 p.a. a total increase in income of 37% guaranteed for life!

-It's worth asking about.

Our methodology.

We will meet with you and establish your needs and circumstances and make our final recommendation based on a thorough understanding of your actual needs.

We use your existing pension company rates as a benchmark and then compare them to the best available from the leading Open Market Option providers in the UK.  If appropriate we will then look for enhancements on grounds of Postcode, Occupation Smoking and Health factors and if they are available will incorporate them into our recommendation.

We examine the alternatives available from every leading provider of Open Market Options including those offering enhanced rates to ensure you receive the best advice possible.

The companies we expect to compare include the following but we will extend the search to the full range available as your circumstances require.