BlackRock has launched a new retirement planning tool to help pension savers simplify their planning process and have better informed conversations with advisers.
The CoRI tool is based on the firm’s CoRI Retirement Indices, which use real-time data from UK bond indices, current interest rates, inflation expectations, mortality projections and various other factors.
This data is updated daily to let individuals aged between 55 and 74 to get a forward-looking and accurate picture of future annual retirement income.
There are 20 CoRI indices, one for each specific year when people turn 65, from 2006 to 2025.
Chip Castille, chief retirement strategist at BlackRock, explained that the tool has been used by retirees in the US since 2013 - with 713,000 users since then - while the UK version running live through this summer.
He noted that as well as being made available to the public, the tool will be supplied to advisers in order to improve the certainty in client conversations about retirement planning.
“It’s a great starting point for conversations with advisers, giving people a figure for their lifetime retirement income based on their existing savings,” commented Mr Catille.
“This means clients can explore where else they can draw income from, how much more they may need to save, or whether changes to their investment strategy are required.”
Steve Patterson, managing director at retirement adviser Intelligent Pensions, welcomed the tool, stating that it is far more straightforward that the illustrations provided by insurance companies.
Also present at the launch this morning was Boring Money and Platforum founder Holly Mackay, who pointed out that from a consumer’s perspective, it was not just cost that was putting people off accessing advice, but the time and convenience factor.
Having said that, she also complained that one of the biggest emerging problems since the pension freedoms was the impossibility of comparing drawdown prices. “It’s just excuses and not options from providers,” she added.
Mr Patterson responded that when speaking with clients, finding the least expensive drawdown plan was less of an issue than having the right support, and that cost can just confuse people.
BlackRock’s latest online tool came after last month the provider bought San Francisco-based robo-adviser firm FutureAdvisor for an undisclosed sum.
FutureAdvisor will operate as a business within Blackrock Solutions, and the unit will provide financial institutions with technology-enabled capabilities to improve their clients’ investment experience.
BlackRock said that the combined offering will enable financial institutions to grow their advisory businesses by leveraging technology to meet a growing consumer trend of engaging with technology to gain insights on their investment portfolios.
peter.walker@ft.com
