FSA Annuity Rates

If you have been looking for the best annuity rates online then you may have come across the The Financial Services Authority (FSA) website featuring a number of pension annuity tables. The pages offer information about individual providers as well as illustrative example rates.  One thing important to note here that the FSA tables are not intended to recommend one annuity provider over another but to merely give those approaching retirement an idea of they kind of rates they might expect.

The site offers the ability for users to submit information about themselves in order to see which annuity product might best suit them. Not only are the tables designed purely for illustrative purposes, it is also important to recognise that not all annuity providers share their rates information with the FSA. To get a genuine comparison of the best rates on the market, an individual must speak to a financial advisor or an annuity specialist.

One of the drawbacks of using annuity tables or an annuity calculator is that they cannot produce accurate answers to the detailed medical questions needed in order to quote for the higher paying annuities (enhanced annuities).   Some industry observers have been critical of the FSA annuity tables arguing that instead of offering illustrative rates they should instead encourage those approaching retirement to use the Open Market Option (OMO). One of the reasons why users appear to believe that the FSA annuity tables are offering a genuine comparison is that they are laid out in a similar way to others forms of insurance comparison.