Is an annuity right for me?

When determining whether an annuity is right for you, it may help to focus on what your retirement goals are in more concrete terms. For example, working out how much your basic expenses are, how much you will need for a more comfortable lifestyle, if the Age Pension will be enough or whether you need an additional source of income to meet these goals.

If you value the security of a guaranteed regular income for a fixed term or for the rest of your life, then an annuity may be a suitable investment option for you. In all cases, we recommend you speak to a financial adviser.

Modern annuities for today’s retiree

We understand that your retirement goals and lifestyle needs are unique. That’s why we offer a choice of annuities to suit you. You can use part of your super or personal savings to invest with a minimum investment amount of $10,000.

About Challenger

Challenger is focused on providing customers with financial security for a better retirement.

We do this by offering investment strategies that exhibit consistently superior performance, and by helping customers in retirement with safe and reliable income streams. 

As Australia’s largest annuity provider, we provide regular income payments to thousands of Australian retirees. Our lifetime annuities help to protect retirees from the risk of running out of money late in life.

The retirement incomes we pay are backed by a high-quality investment portfolio, including fixed income and commercial property investments. These investments generate regular and predictable investment income, which we use to fund retirement incomes paid to our customers.

How we cover our promises made to you

Challenger annuities are provided by Challenger Life, a Life Company regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). APRA is the authority that regulates the banking, insurance and superannuation industries.

When you invest in a Challenger annuity your capital investment goes into a fund along with the capital received from other annuity customers. This fund is known as the statutory fund, and all regular payments to our annuity customers are paid from this fund. We are also required by APRA to invest our own money into the fund. This statutory fund is required to hold enough capital to withstand a significant share market shock event.

Challenger Life is subject to detailed legislative and regulatory requirements designed to ensure that your investment is kept safe. APRA actively monitors our investments with the aim of ensuring that we can meet the promises that we have made to you both now and into the future.

If at any time we do not achieve investment returns that are sufficient to cover all the promises that we have made to our annuity customers, we must cover the shortfall from the money we have invested in the fund.

Why financial advice is important

Your finances are an essential part of feeling comfortable and confident about your future. So it’s worth getting an expert involved in exploring options and making a plan for a secure income that will have you covered, throughout retirement.

Making informed decisions

Seeking advice is often about finding out what you don’t know. By discovering the options available for investing and managing your income in retirement, you can start to understand which choices will suit you best, and why. A financial adviser with expertise in retirement planning is the ideal partner for opening up this world of opportunity and then narrowing it down according to your needs. They can guide you towards the right mix of investment and income options for your retirement.

Getting access to benefits

Your own savings may not be your only source of income in retirement. As well as creating a financial plan for your savings and assets, a financial adviser can also ensure you receive any Government benefits you may qualify for, such as the Age Pension.

Keeping you on the right track

Advice can help you understand the facts and figures around your money in retirement. But it’s also about having peace of mind that you’re making the most of your savings to prepare for a comfortable lifestyle throughout retirement. With the benefit of an expert view you can understand the impact that changes to your personal goals or circumstances and external factors, such as market conditions may have on your retirement. Having input from a professional can also help you avoid taking unnecessary risks and make choices that can secure your finances and lifestyle.

If you’re unsure about what sort of advice you need, your adviser can make suggestions when they know more about your financial position and what your goals are for the future. Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) can help you find a financial adviser in your local area, visit faaa.au.

1 You can ask us to change these features in return for different starting payments. But the choice is yours.
2 The actual withdrawal value we pay you is impacted by movements in interest rates and an allowance for the cost to us of breaking the investment. That is why it is only possible to determine the withdrawal value at the time of withdrawal.
3 Only available where you have asked for the full investment amount to be returned to you throughout the fixed term.

The information in this document is current as at 25 May 2026 unless otherwise specified and is provided by Challenger Life Company Limited ABN 44 072 486 938, AFSL 234670 (Challenger, our, we, us), the issuer of the Challenger annuities. The information in this document is general information only about our financial products. It is not intended to constitute financial product advice. Investors should consider the relevant product Target Market Determination and Product Disclosure Statement and the Statement of Advice prepared by their financial adviser before making an investment decision. This information has been prepared without taking into account any person’s objectives, financial situation or needs. Each person should, therefore, consider its appropriateness having regard to these matters and the information in the Target Market Determination (TMD) and Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for the applicable product before deciding whether to acquire or continue to hold the product. A copy of the TMD and PDS can be obtained from your financial adviser, our Client Services team on 13 35 66, or at challenger.com.au.

Any examples shown in this document are for illustrative purposes only and are not a prediction or guarantee of any particular outcome. This document may include statements of opinion, forward looking statements, forecasts or predictions based on current expectations about future events and results. Actual results may be materially different from those shown. This is because outcomes reflect the assumptions made and may be affected by known or unknown risks and uncertainties that are not able to be presently identified. Where information about our products is past performance information, past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Neither Challenger nor its related bodies corporate nor any of their directors or employees, or associates of any of these, receive any specific remuneration or other benefits for any advice provided in this document in respect of the applicable product.
Some or all of Challenger group companies and their directors or employees may benefit from fees and other benefits received by another group company. Financial advisers may receive fees if they provide advice to you or arrange for you to invest with us. Any illustrations involving taxation, Centrelink rules or benefits and/or Department of Veterans’ Affairs rules or benefits are based on current laws at the date of currency specified in this document and these laws may change at a future date. Neither Challenger, nor any of its officers or employees, are a registered tax agent or a registered tax (financial) adviser under the Tax Agent Service Act 2009 (Cth) and none of them is licensed or authorised to provide tax or social security advice. Before acting, we strongly recommend that prospective investors obtain financial product advice, as well as taxation and applicable social security advice, from qualified professional advisers who are able to take into account the investor’s individual circumstances. In preparing this information about taxation, Centrelink rules or benefits and/or Department of Veterans’ Affairs rules or benefits, Challenger relied on publicly available information and sources believed to be reliable, however, the information has not been independently verified by Challenger. While due care and attention has been exercised in the preparation of this information, Challenger gives no representation or warranty (express or implied) as to its accuracy, completeness or reliability. The information presented in this document is not intended to be a complete statement or summary of the matters to which reference is made in this document. To the maximum extent permissible under law, neither Challenger nor its related entities, nor any of their directors, employees or agents, accept any liability for any loss or damage.

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