Good Morning/Afternoon Pension Matters and Freedoms and the importance of Independent Financial Advice An article in last weekend’s ‘The Sunday Times’ highlights the importance of gathering professional expert Independent Financial Advice when considering one’s retirement needs. Click the link to read the article: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/return-of-the-pension-annuity-sales-scand According to the article, about 6 in every 10 savers take annuities or drawdown products offered by their pension company, rather than rivals who offer better rates and more suitable solutions! In some cases, failing to find the best annuity could cost pension savers with a £100,000 pot as much as £23,000 over a 30 year retirement… Product Providers rely on consumer apathy The article found that 2 of Britain’s largest pension firms – Aviva and Scottish Widows- simply refuse to help customers to identify a better deal and more suitable solutions. We, as a business, have tried to convey this message for many years…. Independent Financial Advice – at the BestPrice FS produces the best investor/consumer outcomes, as we have been able to factually clarity. We naturally dislike the outcomes obtained when investors buy products from ‘Restricted Advice Models’. We actually think that consumers ‘buy’ the sales process of restricted advisers rather than understanding the ‘Independence’ of the consultancy provided by an independent whole of market adviser, as not enough simplicity is provided to the national audience to understand this fully! (I personally think this is a failure of education and of the regulator could do more to enable all consumers to fully understand the difference – without hindering choice!). A simple analogy was given to me recently by a construction client! So, if you were buying a comparable building block or the same block – why would you pay 100 pence for the block when you can buy it for 80 pence? (Assuming delivery was on the same terms?!) This analogy applies to many products – especially annuities, so ‘buying’ without an independent review could be extremely costly! Value and price are certainly different and personal to the consumer – which is why we make sure we ‘add value’ at the best price (fs). We hope this helps and as Independent financial Advisers who have zero product bias, our consultancy outcomes are focused to deliver the best possible products and outcomes for our clients. Very best wishes. Best Price FS Team |