A fixed annuity provides a guaranteed income stream. Payouts can be immediate or deferred. Drawbacks include limited upside. Annuities can help ensure your retirement savings last your entire life.

Fixed indexed annuities tie their performance to a stock market index. They offer principal protection and steady income in retirement. Fixed indexed annuities typically limit the returns you can earn ...

If you’ve been wondering what is a deferred annuity, it’s essentially a retirement savings product that lets your money grow tax-deferred until you decide to withdraw it. You can invest either a lump ...

An annuity is a contract with an insurance company. With income annuities, you give them a pool of your money, and they send it back to you as a stream of income. When it comes to annuities helping ...

A fixed annuity is a long-term investment that provides a predictable income stream. Offered by insurance companies, banks and other financial institutions, it guarantees a fixed interest rate and ...

Laurie Sepulveda is a MarketWatch Guides team senior writer who specializes in writing about insurance, investing, personal loans, home equity loans, mortgages and banking. She lives in North Carolina ...

David Rodeck is a financial journalist based in New York City specializing in banking, investing and financial planning. Before writing full-time, David was a financial adviser and passed the Series 6 ...

An annuity can help you save for retirement and has favorable tax benefits. Experts caution that annuities can be complex and risky, carry high fees and are difficult to cancel. Some alternatives to ...

Julia Kagan is a financial/consumer journalist and former senior editor, personal finance, of Investopedia. Vikki Velasquez is a researcher and writer who has managed, coordinated, and directed ...

Are you employed by an educational institution, church, or nonprofit? If so, there’s a retirement savings program authorized by section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code that allows eligible ...

Annuities are often marketed as a secure way to earn a retirement income. But do they live up to their hype? One major concern for investors is the frequently hidden costs associated with these ...