The pension freedoms have opened up consumers' options as well as their expectations of what they can achieve with their pension pot, writes Kim Lerche-Thomsen.
Rather than sleepwalk into buying an annuity, which - despite Option Market Options - was what most people did before the 2014 Budget, now pension-holders have even more choice. They have flexibility and freedom but, of course, with freedom comes the responsibility of making the right decision. So if consumers are not buying a lifetime annuity, what are they doing? For many people, cautious in respect of how much risk they want to take with their retirement pot, the default answer would be to put the money into cash products. But in a low interest rate environment where few cash accounts...
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