¹ Male age 65, £10,000 purchase, single life, guaranteed 5 years and level payments

² Yield on 15 year gilts

³ The FTSE 100 Index is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.

This chart shows how annuity rates and gilt yields (left hand axis) move in parallel. This should come as no surprise as annuity rates are priced in relation to the yield on gilts and corporate bonds.

The chart also shows how the FTSE (right hand axis) has moved over the same period. Notice the so-called double whammies in 2000 and 2008 when both annuity rates and the stock market fell at the same time