You have a number of options to choose from to make sure the income you get for the rest of your life meets your needs and the needs of those who are financially dependent on you.
It's important to consider your choices carefully because once the plan is set up you can't cash it in or make any changes.
The other point to think about is that adding more options generally reduces the amount of income that you get initially.
Here's the choices you have:
- choose how often the payments are made to you - this could be monthly, every three months, every six months or every year;
- choose when your payments will start - you can have them paid in advance so you'd get the first payment as soon as the annuity was set up, or in arrears where the first payment would be made one month after we set up your annuity if your payments are to be made monthly;
- get a pay rise every year by choosing annual increases by a fixed percentage;
- choose for your pension to change in line with inflation, just be aware that inflation can go down as well as up so your income could go down;
- provide for your other half so your wife, husband or civil partner would still get an income if you died before them;
- you can provide for your children too, usually until they're 23 years old;
- if there is another adult who is financially dependent on you, or a child with special needs, then we may be able to help you set up an income for them too if you die first;
- guarantee that your payments will be made for a set guarantee period of up to 10 years (5 years if your pension fund is from Protected Rights money) then if you die within that time, payments will continue to the end of the guarantee period. The last payment in the guarantee period must fall before your 90th birthday.
