What We Do

In short we help people to get the best possible benefit from their pension savings - that means helping them to get the highest possible income for the rest of their life. We are Chartered Financial Planners this means that we are totally committed to the highest possible standards of service and ethics.

We are retirement income specialists which means we only deal with people who are typically within five years of retirement or have retired.�That means we are specialists and every adviser is trained to understand the various options available to clients and more importantly to advise on the various risks associated with those options. This includes both annuity advice and unsecured pension advice as well as other products which have a variety of guarantees built into them.

There is a massive range between the best and worst annuity providers. Our job is to obtain the best possible income and to ensure a smooth transition between providers whilst keeping you updated of progress.

Expertise & Experience

The organisation is headed by Bob Bullivant, a Chartered Financial Planner with many years of experience in the pensions world. He has written widely on a variety of pension topics and has published two research papers entitled 'the future of retirement'.

All of our advisers are overseen by our Financial Planning Manager, Katherine Oxenham who is also a Chartered Financial Planner with 20 years experience in a variety of roles within the financial planning profession.

The FSA (our�regulator) allows people who have passed only one module of the regulated examination to advise clients under supervision. We regard this as inadequate and insist that all of our specialists obtain the full qualification before speaking to clients. In addition they are expected to undertake further study at degree level.

Independence

We are independent financial advisers and owe no allegiance to any product provider. We believe it is important for us to ensure that we cannot be influenced by providers and it is company policy that no entertainment or gift is accepted by us. We believe this to be a stance that gives you comfort that we will not be influenced in ANY way by product providers.

What We Do

Next to buying a house this is almost certainly the most important financial purchase you will make. To make it even more important you can only do this once and so you must get it right. Regardless of fund size we undertake the following research to ensure that you obtain the best possible advice:

1. We investigate all of your pension arrangements to establish if they have favourable clauses such as guaranteed annuity rates or penalties such as market value adjustors or surrender charges. We report the result of our investigations to you.

2. We discuss with you the way in which your income is to be provided. This discussion can range from exploring unsecured pension plans(income fund withdrawal) through to a discussion as to how your annuity should be designed.

3. We explore with you whether you are entitled to an enhanced rate as a result of medical or lifestyle issues. This is also relevant for unsecured pensions as it would increase the risk inherent in any unsecured pension. If we believe you are entitled to such an enhancement all product providers are asked to quote. We will not take short cuts by second guessing what a provider may quote. Medical details are not sent by open e-mail but are encrypted and uploaded to a secure site.

4. We research the whole market. Included in this search will be product providers who may not make their rates generally available or who are piloting a product. As specialists we are often offered such arrangements.

5. We make our reccomendations to you in a full written report.

Client Testimonials

We have a policy of continuous improvement in everything we do and so when a case is completed all clients are invited to comment on our service via a questionnaire. The following represents a selection of comments received this year:

'I cannot fault the advice I was given.'

'Three other organisations never matched up to Annuity Direct's service'

'Thank you for a very professional service which was quick and uncomplicated'.

'I was very satisified with the way you dealt with my case and the way I was treated'.

Didn't seem like a sales process..... more like carefully thought out advice.

Terms of Business

Your first discussion with our specialists is entirely without obligation. If we cannot beat the rate offered by your ceding provider then there is absolutely no charge. This means you have nothing to lose by calling us.

Click here to download our terms of business.