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.

Learn what annuities are, how fixed, variable, indexed, immediate, and deferred annuities work, and how they can help provide steady retirement income.

Immediate fixed annuities and deferred fixed annuities are finding a growing market in the wake of the financial market meltdown. It’s no wonder. Their guaranteed payout rates are more than 8 percent ...

An annuity can provide you with a steady stream of income, ensuring that you have money when you need it. That’s why many people turn to annuities during retirement, to be sure that they have cash ...

A deferred annuity is a long-term contract with an insurance company that provides future income–often for life–in exchange for premium payments, with options like fixed, variable, and indexed types ...

Even though a cut in the Fed’s benchmark interest rate hasn’t happened yet, the anticipation is already having an effect on some annuities, advisors say. Fixed annuities, rather than variable ...

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., May 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) today announced the launch of MassMutual Stable Voyage, a new single premium fixed deferred ...

In the first three months of 2024, annuities enjoyed their highest first-quarter sales ever recorded. Total U.S. annuity sales for Q1 were $113.5 billion, a 21% increase over last year. "The ...

Annuity sales paid no heed to regulatory pressure in the second quarter. Sales were not stunted by impending interest rate cuts. Not even the summer doldrums prevented a nearly 4% increase in Q2 sales ...

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