My parents and my wife's parents had annuities. They were NOT a very good investment. The up-front costs (commissions for the sellers) were very high. The interest paid by the annuities once they were paid up (no more commissions) were marginally OK, but certainly not great. Once they were inherited, the interest paid became negligible. This necessitated them to be cashed out. Since the parents all lived to a ripe old age :>) , the payout counted significantly as income, thus subject to our income tax rate, not theirs.
Someone was trying to talk me into buying one. So glad I didn’t. Just did NOT have a good feeling about it from the git-go. :)