It is more than a year since pension freedoms were launched, following the bombshell announced in a previous Budget statement from then-chancellor George Osborne. We have started to get used to the concept that people are not locked into buying an annuity, but since pension freedoms, life has got a lot more complicated.

The array of choices available for retirees coming to cash in their pension has increased dramatically, and with choice comes personal responsibility. Everyone wants to get the best for their money, but making the right decision on whether to take drawdown and when to buy an annuity – if one chooses to do so – has become more challenging.

In addition, there are those who see themselves sitting on a pile of money with a defined benefit pension, and who see others having the potential to go on a cruise or do some much-needed home improvement, and want to join in too.

Advisers are now faced with the challenge of clients approaching them to help them cash in their own DB scheme, even if it is not in their own best interests.

Since the start of the year, markets have been notoriously volatile, so the option of moving into drawdown has become less attractive, and many advisers are finding that, while clients have been told "annuity" is a dirty word, the security annuities provide is actually what they want.

Pension freedoms have also had other consequences: what about those who just missed the boat when it came to buying an annuity? Ministers saw politically that giving freedom to one group but not the other gave the appearance of being unfair, but the financial services industry has been lukewarm about whether it can actually provide a market for second-hand annuities.

Retirement freedom has been the biggest change to hit the pension landscape for decades; but its consequences are only just starting to be understood.