Challenger

Been with you fot yesrs so must br very happy

In choosing a Challenger Lifetime Annuity, I’ve anchored a seed of continuity to calm waters. Though I may never sit fully in its shade, I trust its roots will deepen with intention. Financial security, to me, is not merely shelter from the storm, but the quiet assurance that tomorrow will rise with dignity. Thank you, Challenger, for helping me nurture this choice with steadiness and grace—and for making the process smooth and reassuring. Show reply

Just want to say from coming from Bluestone mortgage to Challenger. You guys are a breath of fresh air. So easy to talk to with understanding of situations in this part of the world. Bluestone did nothing to make life easy and in fact nearly drove us to bankruptcy with there attitude to real life problems. Coming into Challenger with an interest… Read more

rate of over 11% life for my partner and I was extremely tough. Could not even buy Xmas presents or birthday gifts for loved ones not even for ourselves. As I write this review we have just now come back to 9.59 % so back to single figures. Still very high but we now can breathe just a little easier. Also they have said they will review again soon for us. Amazing!!! So a big ups to this Aussie company that seem to care not like the Malaysian company Bluestone. Thank you so much Challenger let’s hope there is more financial easing for us going forward. You guys rock !

After a lifetime of working I wanted my retirement to be as financially secure and stress free as possible. A financial adviser suggested that I invest my money in annuities and I chose Challenger. My annuities provide me with guaranteed lifetime monthly payments in addition to my aged pension (which is only slightly reduced). If I pass within the… Read more ·  1

first 9 years from the date I purchased the annuity my beneficiaries will get 100% of my initial investment and then up to the next 9 years the payout reduces on a sliding scale. It’s really important to list your beneficiaries so that you know exactly who your money will go to. I have had several contacts with Challenger staff over the years and I have always found them to be very helpful, consistent and patient with my many questions. After each call they send me an email with detailed documents that explain exactly what I will receive and how it works. I know that annuities are considered a safe option, they are not like investing in the market etc where there is a possibility of high returns (or losses), but they give me an additional lifetime income to my aged pension that is stress free and that is what I want.

As an engineer, I know that to build anything you need a solid foundation, and retirement is just another structure that must be designed and implemented. An Annuity provides a solid foundation with a known return over the selected term, with a set of options that can be tuned to match your circumstances. I chose Challenger as they had the… Read more ·  1

best-guaranteed return for the duration of the Annuity, (we had a 20-year fixed term) with an indexed return that ensured that our baseline would increase with time. The second tier was a Superannuation Account with an allocated pension payment and the third was several Investment Properties. We have since sold the Investment Properties as they were becoming too much of a problem to administer, and their return was used to help our children with their first home purchase. Helping the family out was enabled by the knowledge that we had the Annuity to provide a solid foundation for our retirement expenses.

The difficulty when you retire is to decide how long your money should last, as there are several options that we assessed including including Super, Share portfolio and Annuities. Initially, we split our super in two, half in stock market investments and half in annuities with Challenger and this was working well for us for a while. We have been… Read more ·  1

with Challenger for 13 years with our initial fixed term annuities and have no issues with money always delivered on time. We are at the stage of making our next decion and that has been to take out further fixed term annuities with Challenger which will last to age 86. We could have gone for a lifetime annuity, but we wanted a better return on investment while we are young enough to enjoy it. Of course, we could have considered lifetime annuities, but they will obvously give you lower returns. We know that when our fixed term expires we will be left are left with our pensions and property, but that should meet our reduced activity as we age.. It sounds a bit goulish to decide how long we will live and how we want to manage our life but those were our decisions. Challenger have been easy to deal with as we considered these options, so we would just say to consider what strategy you want to take and discuss these with Challenger if you need advice to help with your decision. We have no issues with the choices we have made and our relationship with Challenger.

Have always been happy with the product and the value it provides. Am looking forward to maturity when we get most of it back or have the option to reinvest. Show reply

Very happy with the types of annuity and returns offered for their products . I've been investing with Challenger for over 6 years and and am a very happy customer. I would recommend their products for those looking for secure returns . Show reply

I have benefitted from a Challenger annuity for over eleven years, commencing when I retired. I allocated 25% of my superannuation for ten years, and several years after, converted some super funds to a second annuity with Challenger, while continuing the first annuity. There is strong comfort in knowing what your exact monthly income will be… Read more ·  1

and that there is a large residual when the annuity has expired, balanced by an allocated pension from superannuation.

Challenger Annuity – I was fortunate to come into some money and sort the advice from my financial advisor, who advised me to invest into a Challenger Annuity. This was the best advice I received, giving me a competitive monthly income and guaranteed capital return. I have found the team at Challenger to be very knowledgeable and helpful. Highly recommend Challenger for better returns than the major banks. Show reply

Giving different advise by different people – Every time I speak to challenger I speak to a different person who tells me something different to the other person. This makes it very difficult to know what they require from you.

Money Money Crap – My father died. I notified Challenger via email with a death certificate attached. I received a heartless standard reply that I must complete a 3 page form, "wet ink" (happy to pee on it!) death certificate and MAIL it to them. I have mailed them before and they haven't received notification of change of address. THREE letters later and 5 phone… Read more

calls, they finally admitted they dropped the ball and did not update details. So they'll keep paying Dad's annuity and then when they get their act together, they'll contact me and accuse me of not complying to their demands and deceitfully taking money. 40 years Dad was with them and he gets a standard letter, no condolences and then I must spend my time doing their job as it seems no one there is capable of closing a dead person's account even with a death certificate attached. I wish an Ombudsman could investigate this lot for greed and selfishness. I did the right thing by Challenger and they're ignoring my grief and filling me up with paperwork.

Challenging! – Mum got talked into this fixed annuity investment. Most retiree's don't have the skills to unwind the returns and figure out that they are getting a lousy 1.7%. (Hint use the IRR function in Excel and of you are using monthly cash flows, multiply the IRR x 12 to get the annual %). I pointed out this and asked for a better option. No… Read more

response. I gave up and asked for the forms to close and refund. No response. I phoned and complained. All I got was [Word Removed] covering . Eventually it took 8 days to get the forms. Signed and submitted I was told it was a 2 day return Nothing happened. Day 3 I get a call asking me to verify the withdrawal was genuine. Sigh. OK they said they would process that day. Nothing. Day 4. I call again. They will process today for sure. Nothing. Day 5. It will be 2 or 3 more business days. Let me speak to the manager of redemptions. No can do, as all the managers are in a meeting. Will call you at 1pm. No one calls.

Given their financial results and the bonuses still paid to managers, I smell potential insolvency. PS I eventually got an email saying they are reviewing and will get back to me in two weeks! I'm now very concerned about bankrupcy)

The regulatory authority is useless. Put it in writing and we will look at it after our nap. (30 days) I'm glad they are not running the fire brigade.

Cost Us Money – My father had an annuity with Challenger when he died. Rather than follow my father's will Challenger's Trustee decided to split the annuity amongst all of dad's children (from 2 families) even though some had been provided for differently in his will. It cost the estate nearly $20k in legal fees and a letter from all of my father's children from… Read more

both families before the Trustee decided to comply with my father's estate distribution as defined by his will.

If you decide to take an annuity with this company ensure that you insert a clause that you want the terms of your will followed.