When approaching retirement you will be thinking about the options you need to consider for your retirement income and finding the best annuities will be one of them. The open market option was introduced in the UK to allow everyone at retirement the chance to shop around to find the best annuities from the entire market and not just those offered by the pension company you saved with.

Those retiring will be well advised to seek the services of an independent financial adviser (IFA) so that you have access to the entire market, this is also because many of the annuity providers only sell through their products via financial advisers, so you could miss out on the best annuity rates because you as an individual would not be able to get a quote.

Once you have found a financial adviser then you need to let them know your ambitions for retirement so they can choose the best annuities from the many different types on the market. There is a vast range of different annuity products on the market from, guaranteed annuities to income drawdown and understanding each of these different products would take you weeks of research, this is why you should seek the services of an IFA.

An IFA will ask you questions about the income you will need in retirement and also ask about your lifestyle habits and medical conditions present and past. These questions are asked because there is a possibility that you might qualify for enhanced annuities which give much higher annuity rates than standard, of course depending on the severity of lifestyle habits or medical conditions. It is said there are over 5000 different medical conditions that on their own or in combination could qualify for enhanced annuity rates and give your retirement income a huge boost.

Using the open market option you can be sure to find the best annuities and using an IFA will ensure that the entire market can be research for your exact profile. Retirement income may have to last as much as 30 years so it is vital that you get the best possible rates you can.