Guaranteed Retirement Income

If you're looking for some measure of assurance in retirement in a financial world where few guarantees exist, a fixed annuity* may make sense. While there are many different annuities, one type — a fixed annuity — offers the security many people want.

Your Choice

With fixed deferred annuity contracts, you get the guaranteed interest rate credited to your account balance and eventually will receive a regular payment based on your rate and annuity contract length. Immediate annuities begin, as the name implies, right away and base payments on a credited interest rate and contract length.

Payments can last for a fixed term, ranging from a few years to many, and they can even last your lifetime (usually for an extra fee).

Your Funding

Your age, whether you have another retirement plan, and other factors can affect whether contributions are tax-deductible or made after-tax, but payments of the earnings are always taxable as ordinary income, making your after-tax net susceptible to changing tax rates. Growth is tax-deferred during the accumulation phase.

There are other types of investments that can potentially provide higher retirement income, but very few offer these guarantees. Do your homework to learn if a fixed annuity is right for you.

*Fixed annuity contracts guarantee a minimum credited interest. The insurer credits a fixed interest rate to contributions in the accumulation phase and pays a fixed income payment when annuitized. For immediate fixed annuity contracts, annuitants receive a fixed income stream based, in part, on the interest rate guarantee at the time of purchase. Annuity products are not FDIC-insured, and their guarantees are backed solely by the claims-paying ability of their issuing life insurance company.