MONTHLY NEWSLETTER – SEPTEMBER 2025

1 September 2025

Annuities To Fund Retirement

Just a few years ago the popularity of using an annuity to provide retirement income was waning dramatically. Low interest rates and low gilt yields meant that annuities were considered poor value, and most retirees were therefore opting for drawdown despite the higher risks involved. Now, however research by Hargreaves Lansdown has confirmed that a 65-year-old could receive an income for life of £7,793 per annum on a single life basis with a 5-year guarantee. This has meant that the take up of annuities has soared in recent years as illustrated below:

Please see graph below for an illustration of the increased income available via an annuity today when compared to recent years:

Important considerations
Many factors however must be considered before purchasing an annuity. These include the amount of guaranteed income required, the need for spouse benefit, if escalation is required to protect against inflation and health information which could enhance your income further. All of the above highlights the need for financial advice which in turn will give you access to the whole of the market and the best rates available. Should you require any further information please contact the office.

Conclusion

Annuities have regained popularity because they now offer far greater value than just a few years ago and provide certainty of income for the remainder of your life if selecting a lifetime annuity which cannot be guaranteed with drawdown. Their value is highest when they’re properly researched, tailored to suit individual needs and consideration is given to individual tax circumstances by us as your financial advisers.

Darren Fuller – Clear Senior Paraplanner.

What investments are the younger generation interested in?

It is always interesting to know what’s capturing the attention of the next generation, when it comes to investing.

7IM have recently ascertained from work experience students in the finance sector that there were three main topics of interest:

Crypto (this is obvious).
Catastrophe bonds (not so obvious; there must be a very weird section of TikTok!).
And Gold.

One keen youngster asked how much gold is actually used vs hoarded. Great question.

Source: World Gold Council/7IM

It turns out that only around 10% of all gold each year is used in “industrial processes” i.e. memory chips, circuit boards, medical stents, nanotech etc.
The rest ends up in investment products, bank vaults or as jewellery.
Even more interestingly, the amount being used in “industrial processes” has been falling quite steadily in absolute terms – from around 400 tonnes per year in the early 2000s it is now 330-odd tonnes.
Where has this demand for 70 tonnes of gold disappeared to over the last two decades?

Unbelievably the answer is teeth! After being used to fix teeth for over 2,500 years, gold is finally falling out of favour. Gold used in dentistry has fallen from 70 tonnes per year in 2004 to less than 9 tonnes today – that is almost ALL of the fall in demand.
So weirdly, despite recent price rises, this precious metal is in the position of becoming LESS useful over time!

Some Good News!

Consumer sentiment picks up after Bank of England rate cut.

Headlines CSI (Consumer Sentiment Index) highest in ten months.
Perceptions of current and future finances become less downbeat.
Sentiment towards labour market conditions second highest in the survey’s history.

Soft tops & soft whips

Brits used to LOVE convertible cars. We loved getting that roof down, feeling the wind in our hair!!

In the late nineties and early 2000’s, around one in twenty cars sold in the UK was a convertible, but today it’s closer to one in two hundred. The lack of demand has meant big car makers no longer sell a drop-top model in the UK, this includes Audi and Jaguar!

There are a lot of reasons why this could be, but the most unintuitive reason is that the weather is now too nice!
This might sound odd as good weather is essential to having the roof down surely, but thinking about ice cream may help to explain why……

What makes us buy ice cream?

You would automatically think It’s “hot, sunny weather”. After all, you’ve probably been buying more ice cream in the last couple of weeks than you do normally. But if that was the case, why do Swedes eat nearly FOUR times as much as the Spanish and the Finnish consume even more than the Swedes? Also you could ask how was Vermont the inspiration for Ben & Jerry’s, or north Denmark prompting the invention of the Magnum?

It’s not the sun/heat levels, it’s what it’s relative to. It’s not the frequency of the good weather, it’s the rarity – ice cream is a celebratory good!
May and June in Stockholm sees almost as much sunshine per month as Madrid. This is such a change compared to other months of the year in Sweden, it’s worth celebrating – with an ice cream! In Spain it’s just another sunny day!!

Source: https://www.foreca.com/

In the opposite sense, seeing snow on Christmas Day in Madrid is a big deal. Whereas the song White Christmas doesn’t really make much sense to Stockholmers (we assume)!

And so, the same might well be true for Brits considering buying a car. If it’s hotter more often, having the roof down isn’t a rare treat….
It’s a sweaty daily nuisance!!!

Clear Minds is reaching a milestone.
With your help we are approaching 1500 paid therapy sessions.
Number of sessions paid for :1477
Number of therapists now registered to work with Clear Minds: 18
Number of clients funded by the charity: 33

Please click here to donate

Our mailing address is:

Clear Financial Advice

Suite J Castle House

Park Road

Banstead, Surrey SM7 3BT

United Kingdom

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