Finally savers were being released from the shackles of buying a bad value annuity, and were allowed to do what they wanted with their pension pot.

Many fund managers licked their lips and thought the pensioners would come running and buy into their funds.

Fast foward to spring 2016, and the picture is not so clear cut. After an incredibly volatile start to the year, investors are starting to realise the challenges of relying on the stock market.

These may be investors who might have little or no experience of the stock market, outsourcing all the oversight of their pension funds to external managers while just keeping an eye on their annual benefit statement.

Investing more directly in the stock market, through a drawdown product, whether holding specific shares or investing via pooled funds, involves a much more sophisticated understanding of the risks involved. Shares are, by their nature volatile, and their performance is at least as much governed by sentiment or general feeling on other unrelated sectors as it is by underlying fundamentals.

When George Osborne announced his decision in the Budget in 2014, annuities were suddenly seen as an old-fashioned product, whose best days were behind it.

Now annuities’ adherents are glad they stuck to their guns, and can be supported by the fact that stock market volatility means these products still have a place.

One industry executive has reported how clients come to him saying they do not want to buy an annuity because Mr Osborne said they should not, but then they ask for something that an annuity can provide.

The consensus is that a blend of the two options – annuities and drawdown – is most likely the best solution, and that a staged careful withdrawal of cash from the fund is necessary to ensure that the money does not run out before the pensioner dies.

But even this is not easy. Simply because people now appreciate the virtues of annuities more than they they did a year ago, does not mean that they are suddenly producing fantastic returns. Interest rates are still incredible low – and in some countries they are negative; we are not living in the best environment for good rates.

The problem is that, ultimately, investors are subject to the whim of prevailing economic conditions. It is not good news that we are living in uncertain economic environment, and anyone who tries to ignore it is likely to get caught short when they are futher into their retirement.

Melanie Tringham is features editor at Financial Adviser