More than two-thirds of retired people who accepted the annuities offered to them by their pension providers now regret it and would do things differently, a Just Retirement survey has revealed.
In a poll of 1,000 people aged 55 and over, the pension provider found that, of those who would do things differently, 71% would seek professional advice, 43% would shop around themselves and 14% would leave the pension invested.
Stephen Lowe, Just Retirement's group external affairs and customer insight director, said: 'At the point of making their decisions, three in ten were under the impression they were compelled to buy from their existing provider which is far too many.
'Just as worryingly are the reasons given for the inertia shown by those who said they did know they could shop around but chose not to. Four in ten said they trusted the existing pension provider. And three in ten said it was the simplest or easiest option.'
Lowe said customers often 'don't know what they don't know', which makes them heavily reliant on information from their own pension provider.
'The government has promised "Guaranteed Guidance" next year for all pension savers heading into retirement,' he continued.
'To deliver better outcomes to more people there needs to be just as much effort on controlling the information and communication between providers and their clients to ensure people are not being led into solutions that are not in their own best interests as has happened in the past.'
In May, MPs argued that the provision of ‘Guaranteed Guidance’ and greater flexibilities offered by the government's pension changes were likely trigger a greater requirement for further advice and financial innovation.
