Fidelity International has launched a new flexible investment and retirement solution.
It allows advisers to blend multiple investment strategies and for pensions, this means combining smoothed funds, model portfolios and guaranteed lifetime income in one place.
The new service will be held on the Fidelity Adviser Solutions platform and can be used for a range of client needs. It is also available for ISAs and investment accounts.
Fidelity said the development builds on its strategic partnership with Standard Life, which has already introduced the Standard Life Smoothed Return Pension Fund and the Guaranteed Lifetime Income plan.
Paul Richards, head of adviser distribution at Fidelity Adviser Solutions, said: “With the retirement landscape continuing to evolve, advisers are increasingly focussed on solutions that make pension planning simpler and more centralised.
“Our retirement proposition supports this by allowing advisers to manage multiple strategies in a single place, in line with the direction of travel outlined in the Retirement Income Advice Review.”
Recent research carried out by Fidelity Adviser Solutions found that 75% of advisers say their clients’ foremost concern is running out of money in retirement. Other significant worries include inflation (56%), market volatility (47%), long-term care costs (47%) and leaving an inheritance (47%).
To reflect these concerns, adviser recommendations continue to be dominated by drawdown strategies, the firm said. Four in five (80%) say they recommend drawdown to all or most retirement clients, while annuity use has fallen back sharply with just 9% recommending annuities to all or most clients compared with 32% in 2024. However, almost a quarter (23%) of advisers expect to recommend more annuities in the year ahead.
Richards added: “Our latest IFA DNA study shines a spotlight on the fundamental concerns clients have about retirement – most notably the risk of running out of money.
“We recognise that retirement is no longer a single point in time but a journey that requires ongoing flexibility. With tools such as Flexible Investment and Retirement Solutions, advisers now have an enhanced toolkit to respond to these challenges and deliver secure, sustainable outcomes.”
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