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.

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Fixed annuities and certificates of deposit (CDs) are both low-risk savings vehicles that provide guaranteed returns, but they work in different ways. A CD locks in funds for a set period at a fixed ...

A “fixed annuity” is an annuity contract in which the value is reckoned in fixed units (in the U.S., U.S. dollars). By contrast, the value of a “variable” annuity is determined by the dollar value of ...

A fixed declared rate deferred annuity is a deferred annuity (i.e. one in which annuity payments may be deferred), represented in terms of fixed units (U.S. dollars), in which interest is declared ...

How to know whether annuities fit into your retirement plan.

Insurance companies generally prefer that annuity contract holders do not surrender their contracts. While a surrender charge penalty would apply, and some of those who surrender an annuity are doing ...

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 ...