Total pension pot

The total amount of retirement savings you have in all your pension pots.

Please add the value of all of your pension pots together and enter the combined total figure in this box. The value must be between £2,000 and £2,000,000.

We will then calculate your estimated annuity based on an assumption that you are retiring now with the pension pot amount you have specified minus any tax free cash.

What percentage of your pot do you wish to take as tax-free cash?

It’s important to note that whilst you can usually take up to 25% tax-free cash from your pension savings this will impact your overall monthly pension income when you retire. It's also important to note that you can't take more than a quarter of your lifetime allowance (£1,073,100) which equates to a maximum tax-free cash figure of £268,275, unless you have lifetime allowance protection in place for a higher amount.

How much tax-free cash do I choose?

If you want to take tax-free cash, please put in a percentage between 1% and 25%. If you don’t want to take tax-free cash, leave it as 0%.

What happens if I change the amount of tax-free cash I want to take?

If you choose a lower amount of tax-free cash, your starting income will be higher. If you choose a higher amount of tax-free cash, your starting income will be lower.

What if I’m entitled to a higher amount of tax-free cash than 25%?

If any of your pensions have a protected higher tax-free cash limit (which can apply to pensions that started before 2006) you may be entitled to a higher amount than 25%. Please contact us if you think this applies to you.

Would you like your income to increase each year?

You can choose yearly increases for your guaranteed income to help protect it from inflation. Or, you can choose an income that starts at a higher level, but doesn’t increase in future.

What type of increases can I choose?

If you choose Level, your income won’t increase in future.Your starting income will also be higher than if you choose increases.

You can choose from:

• Level (no increases)
• RPI (in line with inflation)
• fixed increases of 2.5 % a year
• fixed increases of 3 % a year
• fixed increases of 5 % a year

What does RPI mean?

RPI stands for Retail Prices Index, a way to measure inflation.

Guarantee period

You can choose a guarantee period to make sure your income will be paid for a certain length of time – even if you die in the meantime.

What’s a guarantee period and why would you choose it?

A downside of annuities is that the income stops when you die.If you choose a guarantee period, your income will be paid for the whole of that period – even if you die in the meantime. The guarantee period begins from when you start to take your pension. For example: if you choose a 5-year guarantee period and then die after two years, your income will continue to be paid for another three years.You’ll need to be aware of the following things.

• You can choose 5 years or 10 years.
• Your starting income will be lower than it would be without the guarantee period.
• The longer your guarantee period, the lower your income will be.
• You must choose beneficiaries to receive the income if you die before the end of the guarantee period.

If you don’t want a guarantee period, choose None.