Are you a number or a person?

I asked this in my book How to Take Your Pension Pot because I was and still am concerned that people seriously underestimate their life expectancy.

It is easy to look at the actuarial tables to see what life expectancy looks like but this then creates a risk to your pension pot.

If you underestimate your life expectancy you may well spend your pension pot too quickly.

A good article in Money Marketing today written by John Lawson head of pensions policy at insurer AVIVA makes a very valid point.

Some 32% of men and 37% of women will live longer than the most common (modal) ages of death of 89 and 90 respectively.

That is a serious issue and should really dictate a more cautious approach to spending pension funds.

Annuities have had a really bad press in recent times but there is a real advantage to them and that is the income they produce lasts as long as the owner.

For in excess of one-third of people that might not be a bad thing at all.

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