Retirement
The Retirement Account
One account holding a drawdown pot and a guaranteed income pot side by side, so a member can secure the essential spending and leave the rest invested without running two contracts.
Ladies View, Co. Kerry · Marco Ober, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who it is for
Individuals building a blended retirement income
What it does
- Pension savings, drawdown and guaranteed income in a single account
- Move money into the guaranteed pot in stages as the member ages
- Single annual statement covering both pots
- Core and extended fund ranges on the invested side
The product in full
Most members reaching retirement do not want either pure certainty or pure flexibility; they want the mortgage, the heating and the food secured, and the rest invested. Historically that meant running two contracts with two providers, two statements and two sets of instructions, and reconciling them by hand.
The Retirement Account holds all of it in one place: a savings pot for contributions still being made, a drawdown pot that stays invested, and a guaranteed income pot that behaves like an annuity. Money can move from drawdown into the guaranteed pot in stages, which matters because annuity rates improve with age — securing income gradually through the sixties and seventies is usually better than doing it all on one day at 65.
One consolidated statement covers the lot. That is an administrative feature and also a suitability one: a member who can see the guaranteed floor and the invested remainder on the same page understands their own position, which is not always true of two statements from two providers.
Literature
Product literature is issued to appointed intermediaries. Ask your underwriter, or request it through the enquiry form.
- Key features documentOn request
- Fund range guideOn request
- Illustration requestOn request
How it works
What happens, in order
From the first enquiry to the point the cover, the contract or the facility is in place.
The account is opened with a fund
From £10,000, transferred in or built from contributions to the savings pot.
Money is allocated between the pots
Savings, drawdown, and guaranteed income. The guaranteed pot has a £10,000 minimum each time it is used.
Income is taken from drawdown, or secured
Drawdown income is flexible and depends on the funds; the guaranteed pot pays a fixed income for life.
Further tranches are secured as the member ages
Each tranche is priced at the member’s age at the time. This is the feature the product is built around.
One statement reports everything
Annually, across all three pots.
The numbers
A worked example
Illustrative arithmetic, so the shape of the product is visible rather than described. Nothing here is a quotation or a projection.
Securing income in three tranches
A £400,000 account, with income secured at 65, 70 and 75 rather than all at once. Illustrative rates only.
- Account value at 65
- £400,000
- Tranche 1 at age 65Illustrative 6.0%
- £100,000 → £6,000 a year
- Tranche 2 at age 70Illustrative 7.1% — the rate improves with age
- £100,000 → £7,100 a year
- Tranche 3 at age 75Illustrative 8.6%
- £100,000 → £8,600 a year
- Guaranteed income once all three are secured
- £21,700 a year
- Remaining in drawdown
- £100,000, still invested
- If all £300,000 had been secured at 65Illustrative 6.0% on the whole amount
- £18,000 a year
Illustrative rates, not a quotation, and the comparison ignores what the unsecured money earns or loses while it waits — which is the risk the member takes in exchange. Annuity rates rise with age because the expected payment period is shorter; they also move with long-dated yields, which is the part nobody can plan around.
Guaranteed income built in stages
Cumulative guaranteed income after each tranche, on the illustrative rates above.
View these figures as a table
| Value | |
|---|---|
| At 65 | £6k |
| At 70 | £13.1k |
| At 75 | £21.7k |
| All at 65 — The same £300,000 secured on one day | £18k |
Suitability
Where the The Retirement Account fits
The cases it answers, the cases it does not, and what an underwriter needs before quoting.
It is the right answer when
- A member who wants a floor under essential spending and growth on the rest.
- Someone who expects to secure income gradually rather than in one decision.
- Cases where consolidating two contracts into one is worth doing in its own right.
Look at something else when
- A member who wants the whole pot annuitised now — the Lifetime Annuity is simpler and cheaper.
- Someone who wants no guaranteed element at all.
What we need to quote
- 1.Date of birth, transfer details from the ceding scheme, and the fund available.
- 2.The initial split across the three pots, and the income required.
- 3.Fund selection for the invested side, and health information for any guaranteed tranche.
Questions
What brokers ask us about this product
Why do annuity rates improve with age?
Because the income is expected to be paid for fewer years. It is not a reward for waiting — it is the arithmetic of a shorter expected term, and it can be outweighed by a fall in yields while the member waits.
Can money move back out of the guaranteed pot?
No. A secured tranche is a lifetime income and is irrevocable, exactly as an annuity is. Movement is one way, from invested to guaranteed.
Is there a minimum for each tranche?
Yes, £10,000. It keeps each transaction large enough to be worth pricing and administering.
Request information
Ask us about the The Retirement Account
The form reaches an underwriter in Dublin. If you are an intermediary, say so and we will route it to the broker desk.