Case Study: Mr Cartwright

Age: 66
Product: Conventional Annuity

When Mr Cartwright was approaching retirement he decided to start investigating the rates he could expect to achieve for his personal pension fund.

“I already had a good understanding of my options, including annuities and income drawdown, and knew that I wanted the certainty of a lifetime income when I took retirement.”

“I knew that whatever income I could get from my existing insurance company might not have been the best rate that I could achieve on the open market,” says Mr Cartwright, 66.

The retired Regional Sales Manager from Sheffield wanted to find a specialist who could search the market for competitive annuity rates on his behalf.

“As I do not have any health conditions, I knew I would not qualify for an enhanced annuity, so finding the best standard annuity rates for my money was very important to me.”

“I asked if I could visit their head office”

“I looked online and immediately discovered Retirement Line. After reading through their website I decided to ask for a quote, and was contacted in a very short amount of time by my sales consultant, Nicola, who was fantastic from the start.”

During his phone appointment, he and Nicola discussed his priorities for a retirement income and how he wanted to ensure his wife would be looked after. “We quickly established that a joint lifetime annuity would suit me best, so if I pass away first then my wife will continue to receive an income from my policy.”

“I wanted to choose a company I could trust, so to be absolutely sure of my decision I asked if I could visit their head office the following week, when I would be in Peterborough where they are based. I was delighted when Nicola agreed!”

During his visit to the Retirement Line offices, Mr Cartwright was shown around and also introduced to the company’s CEO, David Slater. “I couldn’t believe how friendly and welcoming everybody was, even the CEO took the time to talk to me and tell me about the company’s history and values. It was wonderful hearing about his family-run business, and I left feeling absolutely confident that I had made the right decision.”

“They couldn’t have been more helpful”

He proceeded with a joint life annuity and was soon enjoying life as a retiree: “The whole process took around three weeks from start to completion, and was incredibly smooth.”

“I decided that I would withdraw part of the fund as a tax-free lump sum and Nicola handled everything for me, filling in the paperwork and sending it over for me to sign. Nicola and the team couldn’t have been more helpful.”

“Admittedly I felt reluctant to retire at one stage and was apprehensive about taking that leap into the next phase of my life, but suddenly the time felt right and that made the transition much easier. I think you need to know when you are ready. Now that I’m retired I am loving it, in fact, I don’t know how I found time to work before!”

So, would he recommend Retirement Line? “I would recommend Retirement Line to absolutely anyone coming up to retirement. I have since referred them to my wife and to a good friend when they both retired, knowing they couldn’t get a better annuity service anywhere else.”

“I feel lucky to have found Retirement Line and have great peace of mind in knowing that my annuity has been so expertly arranged.”