Richard Rowney, Managing Director, LV= Life & Pensions comments:
“LV= is in full support of encouraging people to shop around when they retire. We are focused on offering consumers choice and a blend of products to best suit their circumstances, at both the point of, and throughout their retirement. We actively work with the industry, through adviser partnerships and marketing, to help increase consumer awareness of their retirement options.
“We strongly believe that retirees should not be able to take an income from their pension until they have completed a pre-retirement form including key questions that would indicate whether they should be considering an alternative to a lifetime annuity. This would ensure consumer engagement with the retirement process and make them more aware of the financial options available to them.
“Deciding how to structure income in retirement is one of the biggest and potentially most complex financial decisions someone will make. We welcome the findings of the FCA report which highlights, not only the importance of shopping around, but the significance of seeking advice at the point of retirement to ensure consumers make the most of their pension pot.
“We would welcome any initiative that encourages retirees to shop around and would fully support a compulsory health check for consumers, with a qualified financial adviser, at a time when they have the opportunity to review their savings plan and still active in the workplace.
“Consumers could be given a free session via a voucher system that can be traded with advisers. This could be funded with a levy on the industry based on, for example, premium income. This could be supported by the Government in a similar way to the credit they have given for Child Trust Funds etc.”
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