Annuities and IPOs: Digesting the changes for income investors

ON INCOME

It has been an interesting year for income investors so far, and a positive surprise has come from food retailers which are rising up the list of potentially attractive stocks, explains Kames' UK manager Iain Wells.

After a great year for equities in 2013, this year is proving to be a bit more challenging so far. For income investors a lot is happening. Pensions bomb The pension market changes in the budget dropped a bomb on to the life insurance industry. This is concerning because the sector has been a source of above-market yields and growing dividends. The changes outlined create uncertainty, particularly for sales of individual annuities. However, not all companies will lose, all will evolve, and some - like the asset managers - are likely to benefit from the changes. For non-life insu...