Aviva is launching a new phased drawdown option on its Wrap and SIPP platform that will offer customers one of the most flexible, tax-efficient methods of taking a retirement income.
Aviva is launching a new phased drawdown option on its Wrap and SIPP platform that will offer customers one of the most flexible, tax-efficient methods of taking a retirement income.
Phased drawdown allows customers to draw a regular income using a combination of taxable income and their tax-free cash entitlement, so they can control the level of taxable income they receive in retirement.
Aviva’s phased drawdown option could also maximise potential death benefits, as the online system calculates the minimum amount needed to move into drawdown each month, ensuring as much as possible remains ‘uncrystallised’, which could be paid to beneficiaries as an IHT-free lump sum should the client die before the age of 75.
Aimed at customers with pension assets in excess of £50,000, the phased drawdown option allows individuals the flexibility to manage income levels on an on-going basis, with the ability to adjust their income to their changing needs.
Aviva is the only provider to offer a fully automated, online monthly phased drawdown service across its full SIPP fund range, and there are no additional charges levied by Aviva on customers wanting to use either standard income drawdown or phased drawdown.
Anthony Rafferty, director of individual accumulation at Aviva commented: “We know the shape of retirement is changing, with many people working for longer and retiring gradually. Aviva can now offer its customers a new tax-efficient, flexible retirement income option that can adapt with them as their needs change. As it is built online, we don’t have to restrict the investments customers can use or charge them extra for using phased drawdown. This further strengthens the Aviva range of retirement solutions on offer.”
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If you are a journalist and would like further information, please contact:
Aviva Press Office: Tom Wilson; 07800 692053 / tom.wilson@aviva.co.uk
Jess Geoghegan: 01904 684128 / 07800 695673 / jess.geoghegan@aviva.co.uk
Notes to editors:
Aviva is one of the world's largest insurance groups* with 53 million customers worldwide and 46,000 employees.
Aviva’s main activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide total sales of £45.1 billion and funds under management of £379 billion*.
In the UK, Aviva takes care of its 19.2 million customers by helping them look after their future, protecting what’s important – from their health to their homes, their cars to their business – and saving for the future.
Aviva has a 10.5%** share of the UK life and pensions market and insures one in six homes and one in ten cars in the UK. It is also one of the oldest UK insurers, with a heritage stretching back more than 300 years.
RAC, which is owned by Aviva, provides breakdown and insurance services for individuals and businesses and has around seven million customers.
Aviva is carbon neutral worldwide, and is ranked in the top 10% of socially responsible companies globally by the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. In the UK, Aviva invested £3.8 million into local communities in 2009. Read our corporate responsibility report at www.aviva.com/cr.
Aviva’s global Street to School programme is working in partnership with Railway Children in the UK to get children living on the streets back into education and everyday life. Find out more at www.aviva.co.uk/street-to-school.
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*based on gross worldwide premiums at 31 December 2009
**Source: ABI data released August 2010