"The best performing pension could produce more than three times more pension income than the worst performing one. The really bad news is that your pension fund is more likely to be amongst the bad than the good" The Observer
Often derided as being excessively inadequate for pensioners with little or no other income the Basic State Pension is, in fact, particularly valuable for many other people who have other retirement income from other sources such as occupational or personal pensions.
In fact, currently payable at around £5,000 per annum, index linked with a surviving spouse’s pension, the cost of providing this benefit by a lump sum payment to an insurance company (by way of an annuity) would be around £100,000!
If both spouses have full entitlement this would therefore be worth double that amount. The Department of Work and Pensions enquiry form BR19 will tell you the level of your entitlement, but for more extensive advice…..