Learn About Annuities
Explore clear guides to annuity types, rates, income options, and the tradeoffs that matter in retirement planning.
Start here
Core annuity guides
What is an annuity?
Start with the longevity simulator, then skim the plain-English guide.
Types of annuities
Rank MYGA, FIA, SPIA, and DIA by goal, liquidity, age, and premium.
Fixed index annuity
See how caps, participation rates, spreads, triggers, and the 0% floor work.
The Complete Guide to Annuities
Definitions, types, costs, taxes, suitability, and live-rate comparison paths.
How annuities are taxed
Estimate the taxable split, then skim qualified, non-qualified, RMD, penalty, and beneficiary rules.
Annuity death benefits
Understand beneficiary payouts, claims, inherited-annuity taxes, trusts, and state death-tax questions.
168 published articles
Beginner Guides
Inflation Is Back in the Headlines: Can Annuities Help Ease Retirement Income Worries?
Learn how annuities can provide dependable income and help retirees manage the financial pressure of inflation and market volatility.
Retirement Planning
Annuity Liquidity: What You Can Access and When
How free withdrawals, surrender charges, taxes, income elections, and annuity type affect access to your money.
Retirement Planning
Annuities vs. DIY Income Plans: When Each Approach Makes Sense
Compare flexible portfolio withdrawals with guaranteed annuity income—and learn when a blended approach may fit.
Retirement Planning
The Difference Between Guaranteed Income and Guaranteed Return
Guaranteed income and guaranteed return solve different retirement problems. Learn what each promise actually covers.
Retirement Planning
Inflation Is Back in the Headlines: Can Annuities Help Ease Retirement Income Worries?
How guaranteed income, liquidity, and growth assets can work together when inflation raises retirement costs.
Beginner Guides
Creating Retirement Paychecks: Why Guaranteed Income Matters More Than Ever
Learn how guaranteed income, Social Security and annuities can help create a reliable retirement paycheck and reduce financial uncertainty.
Learn
Volatility Control Indexes in Fixed Indexed Annuities: What You Need to Know
What volatility control indexes are, why insurers pair them with high participation rates, the excess-return and backtest red flags, and how to compare them against a plain S&P 500 strategy.
Learn
Reverse Mortgage vs. Annuity: Two Ways to Turn Assets Into Retirement Income
A reverse mortgage converts home equity into cash; an annuity converts savings into guaranteed income. How the two compare on guarantees, costs, and heirs.
Learn
Protected Income Value (PIV) Riders on Fixed Indexed Annuities
What a protected income value is on a fixed indexed annuity, how it differs from your cash value, how it grows, and what the income guarantee really costs.
Learn
How to Choose the Right Annuity Riders
A decision framework for annuity riders: the income, legacy, and care buckets, a side-by-side rider comparison table, cost questions, and the mistakes to avoid.
Learn
Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit (GLWB) Riders, Explained
How GLWB riders guarantee lifetime withdrawals without annuitization: income base vs contract value, roll-ups, step-ups, fees, and when the rider is worth it.
Learn
How Annuity Riders Are Taxed
How income, death benefit, and long-term care riders are taxed, how the exclusion ratio works, what rider fees do to your basis, and 1035 exchange rules.
Learn
Annuity Death Benefit Riders: Types, Costs, and How to Evaluate Them
The main types of annuity death benefit riders — return of premium, stepped-up, and enhanced — what they cost, how they're taxed, and how to decide whether one is worth the fee.
Learn
Annuity Company Ratings: How to Read Them and Why They Matter
How to read annuity company ratings from AM Best, Moody's, S&P, and Fitch — the four scales side by side, what ratings measure and miss, and where to check current grades.
Beginner Guides
The Difference Between Guaranteed Income and Guaranteed Return
Learn the difference between guaranteed income and guaranteed return and how each can support retirement planning and financial security.
Beginner Guides
Replacing an Annuity: When an Exchange Helps You (and When It Only Helps the Agent)
When replacing an annuity genuinely pays, when it's churning, and the replacement-suitability rules that protect you. A break-even test before you sign.
Learn
What Is a RILA? Registered Index-Linked (Buffer) Annuities Explained
How registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) work: buffers vs. floors, caps, real downside risk, and where RILAs sit between FIAs and variable annuities.
Learn
What Is a Qualified Annuity? IRA and 401(k) Annuity Rules
How a qualified annuity works: pre-tax funding inside an IRA or 401(k), fully taxable withdrawals, RMD rules, and how it differs from non-qualified.
Learn
What Is a MYGA? Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuities Explained
Learn how a multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA) works: locked-in rates, terms, taxes, surrender rules, and how a MYGA compares to a CD.
Learn
What Is a Variable Annuity? Subaccounts, Fees, and Fixed Alternatives
How variable annuities work: subaccounts, fee layers, riders, and market risk — plus the fixed and indexed alternatives worth comparing.
Learn
Straight Life Annuity: The Highest Payout, No Legacy
What a straight life annuity is, why life-only payouts are the highest, how mortality credits work, and who should — and shouldn't — choose one.
Beginner Guides
The Social Security Bridge: Using an Annuity to Delay Benefits to 70
How a period-certain immediate annuity can pay the bills from retirement to age 70, so your Social Security benefit locks in at its maximum.
Learn
Single Premium Deferred Annuity (SPDA): How It Works
What a single premium deferred annuity (SPDA) is, how it differs from a SPIA, its fixed, indexed, and variable forms, and who a lump-sum annuity fits.
Beginner Guides
Selling Annuity Payments: How Factoring Works and What You Give Up
How selling annuity payments for a lump sum works, why the buyer's discount rate decides what you keep, and the cheaper exits to check before you sell.
Beginner Guides
Qualified vs Non-Qualified Annuities: Tax Treatment Compared
Qualified vs non-qualified annuities compared: funding, how withdrawals are taxed, RMDs, contribution limits, and which bucket fits your money.
Learn
Premium Bonus Annuities: Where the 'Free Money' Really Comes From
What a premium bonus annuity is, how vesting and recapture work, and how insurers recoup the bonus through lower caps and longer surrender schedules.
Beginner Guides
Pension Lump Sum vs Annuity: How to Decide
A pension buyout framework: how lump sum offers are priced, the one test that compares them to the monthly annuity, and who should lean which way.
Learn
Life Annuity with Period Certain: Guarantees for Your Heirs
What a life annuity with period certain guarantees, how 10- and 20-year certain options work, and when they beat cash-refund protection for heirs.
Learn
Joint and Survivor Annuities: How Survivor Percentages Change Your Payout
How a joint and survivor annuity works, what 100%, 75%, and 50% survivor options mean, and how each choice changes the monthly payout for a couple.
Beginner Guides
Inherited Annuity Taxes: Rules for Spouses and Non-Spouse Beneficiaries
What you owe when you inherit an annuity: spousal continuation, the 5-year rule, the stretch option, and how qualified contracts differ.
Beginner Guides
How to Get Out of an Annuity: Every Exit Path Ranked by Cost
Every way out of an annuity, ranked from free to expensive: free look, free withdrawals, waivers, annuitization, 1035 exchange, surrender, and selling.
Beginner Guides
How to Compare Annuity Quotes Without Getting Played
What an annuity quote must disclose, an apples-to-apples checklist, and the quote games — blended bonus rates, mismatched product types — to catch.
Beginner Guides
How to Buy an Annuity: A Step-by-Step Guide from Quote to Funding
The full annuity buying process: choosing a type, comparing quotes, the suitability review, the application, and funding by transfer or 1035 exchange.
Beginner Guides
How Much of Your Portfolio Belongs in an Annuity?
Skip the percentage rules. The income-gap method sizes your annuity to the retirement expenses your Social Security and pension don't cover.
Beginner Guides
How Annuity Payments Are Calculated: Age, Rates, and Mortality Credits
See exactly how insurers turn a lump sum into a monthly annuity check: age, interest rates, mortality credits, payout option, and sex.
Learn
FIA Renewal Rates: Why Caps Drop After Year One and How to Vet Carriers
Your initial cap is guaranteed for one period. How FIA renewal rates work, why they often fall, and how to vet a carrier before you're locked in.
Learn
Which Index Should Your FIA Track? S&P 500 vs Proprietary Indices
How to choose between S&P 500 point-to-point and volatility-controlled proprietary indices in an FIA — the tradeoffs carriers don't lead with.
Learn
FIA Crediting Methods: Point-to-Point vs Monthly Average vs Monthly Sum
Annual point-to-point, multi-year, monthly average, monthly sum, and trigger crediting methods — how each measures index change and when each one wins.
Learn
What Is a Deferred Annuity? Accumulation, Payout, and Who It Fits
Learn how a deferred annuity works: the accumulation phase, payout options, MYGA vs FIA growth, taxes, and who deferral actually fits.
Learn
Charitable Gift Annuities: Income, Deductions, and How They Differ
How a charitable gift annuity works: lifetime payments, the partial tax deduction, how payments are taxed, and how CGAs differ from commercial annuities.
Learn
Cash Refund Annuities: Getting Your Premium Back for Beneficiaries
How a cash refund annuity guarantees your premium back for beneficiaries, what the feature costs, and how it compares to period certain and life only.
Beginner Guides
Can You Lose Money in an Annuity? It Depends on the Type
Whether you can lose money in an annuity depends on the type. Fixed contracts shield principal from markets; variable and RILA contracts don't.
Beginner Guides
Can You Borrow From an Annuity? Loans, Withdrawals, and Better Options
Most annuities don't offer true loans — and borrowing against one can trigger taxes. How annuity loans work, the tax traps, and cheaper ways to get cash.
Beginner Guides
The Best Age to Buy an Annuity, by Product Type
There's no single best age to buy an annuity — it depends on the type. Typical windows for MYGAs, FIAs, SPIAs, DIAs, and QLACs, and the ages that matter.
Learn
Spread, Margin, and Asset Fees: The Quiet Cost Inside Indexed Annuities
What a spread or margin subtracts from index gains in a fixed indexed annuity, how it differs from asset and rider fees, and how to compare the real cost.
Beginner Guides
Can You Roll an Annuity Into an IRA? Rollover Rules Explained
Qualified annuities can roll to an IRA tax-free; non-qualified ones can't. See which rules apply to your contract and when a 1035 exchange fits instead.
Beginner Guides
Do Annuities Have RMDs? Required Minimum Distribution Rules
Which annuities have required minimum distributions, which don't, when RMDs start, how annuitized contracts count, and the QLAC exception.
Learn
Annuity Pros and Cons: An Honest Breakdown by Product Type
The real pros and cons of annuities, broken down by type — MYGA, fixed indexed, SPIA, and DIA — because the tradeoffs differ by product.
Learn
Annuity Payout Options: Life-Only, Period Certain, Joint, and Refund
Compare annuity payout options — life-only, period certain, joint and survivor, and refund — how each shapes your check and what happens at death.
Learn
Participation Rates Explained: How Much of the Index You Actually Get
How a participation rate decides your share of index gains in a fixed indexed annuity, how it compares to caps and spreads, and where to see live rates.
Beginner Guides
How Much Money Do You Need to Buy an Annuity?
What annuity minimum investments look like by product type, how premium bands work, and where to see real minimums on live rate tables.
Learn
Annuity Glossary: Plain-English Definitions of Every Key Term
Every annuity term defined in plain English — caps, participation rates, surrender charges, MVAs, annuitization, riders — with links to deeper guides.
Compare by category
Most-searched annuity comparison guides
Start with the common question, then use the comparison page to separate live rates from structural account and contract rules.