There appears to be some debate taking place in the U.K. at the moment regarding compulsory annuitization.

A BBC article which can be viewed here discusses the issue.

Members of Congress and officials from the Departments of Treasury and Labor are working on options that would provide sources of guaranteed lifetime income to participants in 401k and other pension plans.

At a high level, it is clear that the Obama Administration wants to create structures and incentives for:

The head of an Australian financial service firm's life operations, Richard Howes, is an advocate of compulsory annuitization.

Howes believes that 30 percent of retirement funding should be compulsorily assigned to guaranteed income streams--in other words to annuities.

Howes also suggests that the relatively slow take-up of annuities in the Australian market is a result of investors who have been conditioned by a uninterrupted 20 year bull market in equities.

Howes spells-out the case for annuities:

A recent article discusses the challenges that retirees and near retirees face in the UK:

"Dr Ros Altmann, one of Britain's top pensions experts and author of the Planning For Retirement report, says: 'The old idea that the stock market can always be relied on to deliver longterm strong returns has left millions facing an impoverished old age."

While the UK has compulsory annuitization, there are many aspects of England's financial system and demographic profile that are similar to the United states.

Source: Daily Mail