Useful facts

Average fund used to buy an annuity is nearly £39,000.
Average drawdown plan is about £140,000.
80% of all annuities purchased provided level income annuities.
2.5% inflation will cut the real value of a level annuity by 22% over 10 years and by nearly 40% over twenty years.
If you buy an inflation-linked annuity, and if inflation is 2.5% per annum in subsequent years, it will be 23 years before the total income received is more than would have been received from a level income annuity.
Only about one-third of pension annuities include survivor benefits e.g. widows pension.
70% of people do not shop around for annuities (using the open market option).
The difference between the best and worst rates can be 30%.
Up to 40% of the population have a medical or lifestyle condition that means they could quality for an enhanced (bigger) annuity.
Only 10% of annuity purchasers took advantage of this option in 2006.
A man of 65 might expect to reach age 87, and 10% will hit 95.
Drawdown accounted for about a quarter of all matured retirement plans by volume, though only about 5.5% by number of transactions.

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