Happy Friday everybody and welcome back to another five minute Friday here on

meaningful money.

So a listener and viewer I can say that these days doing more video but a listener and viewer, I can say that these days doing more video, but a listener called Greg

emailed me because he's approaching age 60 and is starting to get what are called wake-up letters from his pension providers.

In other words, they're asking him,

you're going to need to make a decision soon

about what to do with your pension benefits,

so why not start thinking about it?

So Greg is wondering whether he should annuitize.

Should he buy an annuity with an annuity, an annuity,

easy for you to say.

Should he buy an annuity with his master pension funds or should he go into draw down?

Greg is a little bit worried about that because of markets being a little bit volatile at the moment.

And while he was emailing me with questions,

he also wondered whether annuities will return to favor.

It's been a long time since we've had a really significant market crash, and Greg wonders whether if and when that

happens annuities because they are guaranteed will return to favour. So that's

what Greg wants to know so we're going to try and answer today. So let's put five minutes on the clock down here.

Say a quick thank you to my friends at seven investment management for continuing to sponsor meaningful money down here and let's crack on. So let's remind ourselves about annuities because they have

fallen a little bit out of favor and we need to understand how they work.

Essentially what happens is that you hand over your amassed pension fund to an annuity company, usually an insurance company, and in return they will give you a

guaranteed income for life. Usually you have the option to take tax-free cash first from your pension fund, usually up to a quarter of the fund,

...