When you reach retirement age, it is usually after forty or fifty years of hard work and putting aside the pennies for precisely this time of your life. The idea is that you can finally relax a little and enjoy life – hopefully without having to worry about money too much.
If you are in a fortunate position you will have been able to save for this time of your life by putting money regularly aside into some sort of pension pot. The question is that when you finally have access to this pension pot, how do you make the most of it?
You may think it is cut and dried and intend to use the same pension company that you have used all your life, but in fact by doing so you could be missing out on the best annuity rates.
It is a fact of life that as with most businesses, competition is fierce and so you have the choice to shop around for annuity rates for your pension pot. This can really make a difference to how comfortable your retirement is, as the rates can vary enormously between how much pension you would receive every month from your pension provider.
This difference could mean enjoying your retirement to the maximum or having to continue to scrimp and save for the rest of your life.
