Your retirement options can be kept open
04/26/2008
After retirement you can face various challenging circumstances. Especially there could be several financial stringencies that you could face. An example is the school fees planning for your children.
Therefore you require flexibility of options relating to your post retirement plans. So far as unsecured pension or drawdown is concerned, you have considerable flexibility of options in deciding the amount you wish to draw. The amount can also fluctuate over the years to meet your immediate requirements. This system is open for you till you reach the age of 75 which is the cut off age limit for all such retirement plans.
Once you buy annuity, your options become limited because the plan cannot be changed afterwards till its maturity. However, since in the unsecured pension plan you do not buy annuity from the beginning you have many options open before you. The pension fund will completely be in your control. It can be invested for generating additional income to help your financial status or for your own welfare for buying private medical insurance policies. In the eventuality of your death, the benefits will pass on to your legal heirs and successors in interest.
People who would be requiring a high level income after retirement will not gain anything from such unsecured pension plans. Rather they might end up getting a lower pension than what they would have got by purchasing the annuity in the beginning. Therefore, before you opt for the unsecured pension or self invested personal pensions as your retirement option, you must take care of all these aspects.