Annuities
An annuity is a long-term, tax-deferred investment designed for retirement that will flucuate in value. It allows you to create a fixed or variable stream of income through a process called annuitization and also provides a variable rate of return based on the performance of the underlying investments.
Annuities can be either fixed or variable. A fixed annuity has earnings that are guaranteed by the insurer. A variable annuity has earnrings that are allocated to a separate account where there are no such guarantees.