How our Guaranteed Income for Life Solution works

Provided by a pension annuity, our Guaranteed Income for Life (GIfL) solution offers your client security and stability for the remainder of their life. This is achieved by using some, or all, of their pension fund to create a regular, guaranteed income.

Most importantly, it can be tailored to meet the individual needs of your client. From ensuring that loved ones are catered for after the client's death, to making sure the income keeps pace with inflation, there's flexibility to be found.

We believe there is no such thing as a ‘standard’ and ‘enhanced’ annuity anymore. Our underwriting has moved on, where your client’s health and lifestyle create a personalised income, specifically tailored to their circumstances.

Your client doesn’t have to be ill to be able to increase their income; height and weight, raised blood pressure, and respiratory conditions are just a few everyday examples that make a difference.

Calculating your client's income

The amount received from a provider will depend on a combination of factors, which could include:

• The size of the pension fund.
• Your client's age.
• If a tax-free lump sum or taxable lump sum (where available) is taken.
• The health and lifestyle of your client.
• The features your client chooses.
• Your client's postcode.

What difference does underwriting make?

When it comes to health and lifestyle, everyone is different, which is why we say that everyone can benefit from being underwritten.

Personalised underwriting can make a huge difference to the amount of income that your client could receive from their GIfL.

As an example, an individual in excellent health1 could achieve an income equivalent to 5%. If in reasonable health2, then the income could be equivalent to around 6%, and if they suffered from critical health3 conditions then their income could be equivalent to over 7%.

Although underwriting utilises a wide range of information, it is often thought of as falling into two broad areas, lifestyle and medical.

• Lifestyle – This can be simple things like height and weight and postcode. Also, an individual’s blood pressure and cholesterol readings, smoking and alcohol intake and even marital status all have an effect on life expectancy. 
• Medical – this tends to be the more serious illnesses, such as heart conditions, strokes and cancer.

Perhaps contrary to popular belief, the majority of underwriting is for cases based on lifestyle. Raised blood pressure, diabetes, respiratory conditions, all of these conditions are commonplace amongst people who would not consider themselves to be ill, and yet they would be able to get a personalised income rate for a GIfL.

Find out more about the impact of underwriting on retirement income solutions >

What options can be used to tailor your client's GIfL?

Your clients can tailor their GIfL solution with features such as:

• The ability to guarantee income payments for a set period of time following their death.
• Offering protection for a client's spouse, civil partner or dependant with a percentage of income.
• Protecting income from the effects of future inflation.
• Protecting the value of the pension fund should the client die without having received, as income, the full value of their fund.
• Payment frequency, whether this be monthly, quarterly, six-monthly or annually.
• Overlap, which may come into affect when some options are chosen in combination.

Find out what funds your client can use to purchase a GIfL, and more about how you can help your client, with our Guaranteed Income for Life Solution Factsheet.

Getting quotes for your client

To suit the way you work, we offer a range of ways to get a quote: you can download a quotation form to request an illustration for your client, find us on all the major financial intermediary quote portals, or you can call our sales support team.

Forms

• Retirement Health and Lifestyle Form
  - This form is accepted by all enhanced annuity providers offering personalised underwritten GIfL. Download a copy of the Retirement Health and Lifestyle Form.
• Financial Intermediaries' own form
  - If you have your own Medical Form we will be able to quote with this information. Please note: we may ask you further questions if necessary.

Portals

Requesting and receiving fully underwritten quotes online can save you process time and is not restricted by typical working hours. When requesting a quote through a portal, it's important to answer every relevant question, as answering 'don't know' could affect the quotes you receive back.

• Iress Exchange
• Assureweb
• Webline

Direct with Us

Contact our dedicated sales support team on 0345 302 2287 and we will aim to provide you with fully underwritten quotes over the phone.
Alternatively you can fax us on 0345 301 2287 or email support@wearejust.co.uk. 

¹Excellent - based on an individual who doesn’t have any health issues.
²Reasonable - based on an individual who is slightly underweight, an ex-smoker, and has high blood pressure and cholesterol for which they take 1 medication for each condition daily.
³Critical - based on an individual who is underweight. They have stage 3 bowel cancer that was diagnosed recently.

Illustrations based on an individual aged 65 and with a pension pot of £50,000 (after tax-free cash). A facilitated adviser charge of 2% has been assumed. Rates offered from Just on 11/2018.