It said it would continue to offer guaranteed income for life through annuities but would also offer what it dubbed ‘drawdown-lite’ through its own platform.
The platform will give advisers access to a selection of moderate to low-risk passive funds.
Guaranteed income products would be modernised, it added, with flexibility extended guarantee periods. Uncrystallised Funds Pension Lump Sums, also known as UFPLS, will also be facilitated to enable client funds to be retained uncrystallised.
Just Retirement director Stephen Lowe said the business would not look to provide full drawdown to high net worth clients but wanted to service middle Britain’s retirees.
He said: “The consensus of consumer research shows that people with sufficient pension savings would like the best of both worlds – a guaranteed income for life to ensure regular bills may be paid and a flexible fund that may be accessed when required for irregular expenditure and to provide a ‘just in case’ fund.
“Our flexible retirement fund has been developed on a state-of-the-art platform and we have worked with a leading fund manager to create a range of low-cost tracker funds designed for middle Britain.”
Lowe said these are not people looking to generate their staple monthly income by taking the “roller coaster ride offered by traditional income drawdown”.
“These clients are looking to maintain the tax efficiency of keeping their money within the pension environment in relatively low-risk funds,” he said. “Often their aim is to keep a sum of money secure, to draw upon at irregular intervals at some point in the future.
“Our objective is to help all middle Britain clients secure the right retirement for themselves and these new products will meet the financial needs of this wise community.”
The firm is also exploring ways to offer simplified advice to the under-served market of middle Britain. This will initially be deployed to corporate pension schemes the business already works with.
