Guided
Annuity
Journey
Our Non-Advised Guided Annuity service
Our guided annuity service is a step-by-step process that will help you find the annuity with the highest income. We’ll be there at each step to make sure you feel comfortable with the choices you make and have the support you need to make an informed decision.
At HUB Financial Solutions, we’re totally focused on finding the right financial solutions for our scheme members approaching, or already in-retirement. We don’t do anything else. We've helped over 30,000 people find the right retirement income solution. We are currently one of the largest brokers of guaranteed income for life solutions in the UK.
We've outlined the five stages of the process. If you have any queries please contact us on the number below. Our aim is to make this journey as straightforward for you as possible.
Step 1
If an annuity is of interest to you, give our team a call on 0345 863 0495. Please have your member number and the value of your pension pot to hand.
There are a number of choices you’ll need to make when setting up an annuity. We’ll run through these during the process, and one of those decisions is about how any tax-free cash you take is paid.
There are two options available:
Open Market Option (OMO)
The first option is called an Open Market Option. Once you’ve chosen an annuity provider, USS will disinvest the money saved in your pension pot. They'll pay you a tax-free lump sum (if you choose to take one) and send the remainder of your funds to the annuity provider of your choice to set up your income.
USS will pay the tax-free lump sum once the annuity has been set up and the cancellation period has expired. This is to ensure that USS only pays the tax-free lump sum once you are sure an annuity is right for you.
It’s important to know that with this option you may have to wait around four weeks after your policy has started to receive your tax-free lump sum.
Immediate Vesting Personal Pension (IVPP)
The second option is called an Immediate Vesting Personal Pension. With this option USS will disinvest the money saved in your pension pot and transfer the full amount to the annuity provider of your choice. The annuity provider will take charge of paying any tax-free lump sum required, and they will set up your annuity with the remainder of the funds.
As the annuity provider is paying your tax-free lump sum, they will usually pay this out before your annuity payments start. In this scenario you won’t have to wait for four weeks after the policy has been set up to receive your lump sum payment.
As a result, you are more likely to receive your tax-free lump sum quicker if you choose the IVPP process over the Open Market option.
Please be aware that with this option, if you change your mind about purchasing an annuity and USS have already sent the funds to the annuity provider, USS is not able to take your pension funds back and reinstate your pension policy. If this happens you would need to source another insurance company who would be willing to take your pension funds.
We’ll discuss this with you in more detail before we go any further in the process.
Your Pre-retirement report
Once your case handler has explained to you how the journey will work and you’ve considered the above choices, we’ll then seek confirmation from you to proceed and you’ll get your personalised Pre-retirement report. This report will have all you need to make an informed decision on what annuity best meets your needs. It will provide you with quotes for a range of annuity shapes, based on the information you have provided. You'll also find details on alternatives to lifetime annuities which may be of interest to you.
An example of this report can be viewed below.
Login details for the online tool (ASSIST) are also included in the report. ASSIST allows you to model various annuity shapes in real-time.
Pre-retirement options form
Here are some examples of annuity options and the income that could be secured. This is where you confirm which basis best suits your own circumstances and how you want your annuity to be set up.
Step 2
Your case handler will ensure you fully understand the implications of the options you have selected, and that an annuity is right for you. We may need more health and lifestyle details to get you the highest possible income for your pension pot.
Once you’ve had a call and feel comfortable, we will explain to you how to submit your chosen options and health and lifestyle details online or return the paperwork in the pre-paid envelope supplied with the Pre-retirement report.
Step 3
When you’re ready to proceed, we will contact USS for an updated fund value before getting annuity quotes from all the providers on the open market. This is to make sure you get the best possible income. We'll then send you your At-retirement report, which shows all the offers along with all the necessary documents, quotes and application forms to secure the annuity purchase.
At-retirement report
This is an example of our At-retirement report, which details the outcome of our investigations from the whole-of-market review and the top offers, with the highest income highlighted.
Step 4
Once we receive your paperwork, we'll send your application form to the annuity provider and contact your scheme to request that funds are disinvested and sent to the annuity provider. Your case handler will keep you updated throughout the process.
Step 5
Once the provider receives the funds from the scheme, they activate the policy, send you the completion documents and begin payments.