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I looked at them in past years and found them to be really good....for the company selling them.

For a guarantee of payments for as long as you live they offer a terrible return (i.e. small monthly pmt) and once you give them the lump sum to fund annuity you cannot get it back. Also most are not transferrable so if you hand them a million to buy an annuity on Monday and drop dead on Friday the pmts stop and the money is gone.

Things may have changed in the past few yrs but one thing has not. Annuities are complex investments and need to be studied very carefully.

My experience as a forty plus yr investor is I have never seen an annuity plan I could not beat by a simple investment plan.

...My experience as a forty plus yr investor is I have never seen an annuity plan I could not beat by a simple investment plan....

I have over 60 years investing experience, and am in complete agreement on annuities. A great way to enrich an insurance company at your expense.

Learn to manage your own money.

“My experience as a forty plus yr investor is I have never seen an annuity plan I could not beat by a simple investment plan.”

I didn’t buy one. Really wasn’t even tempted. I felt they were a bad deal from the start.

I retired three years ago at 56. What allowed me to do that were a few things:

1. Not being a SUCKER for ‘get rich quick’ schemes (LOL!)
2. Little or no debt, other than a mortgage - ever
3. 17 years in the Army, so I had a lot of pay with low expenses and now have medical care thru the VA (had to leave early; had a kid with special needs)
4. Always lived below my means and drove used cars
5. Invested in (physical, NOT paper!) PMs 15 years ago; smartest thing I ever did
6. Sold my paid-for farm & can easily live on that $ until I get my SS at 62 (or 65...still playing with ALL the numbers)
7. Always took advantage of a 401K via an employer & have had my own IRA for-ever

It CAN be done, but you need to be disciplined and also the example of my Dad & Grandpa retiring in their late 50’s made me want to beat them at their own game. ;)

“If you hand them a million to buy an annuity on Monday and you drop dead on Friday the pmts stop and the money is gone.”

+1 billyboy. That’s absolutely possible.

More likely, though, people deposit their million but do collect a few thousand over a few years.

Then they die, & the survivors are told tough luck re: the rest of the money they’d been misled to believe was “invested” & they’d get it back + interest.

Add to your post the fact that the salespeople are working on straight commission— no salary at all!

At the same time, the commission on annuities can be as high as 30% up front.

Thus the temptation is great to “accidentally” forget to inform buyers of all the facts.

I very briefly worked for a company selling annuities, & quit after only a few weeks, when I began to fully understand what was involved.

The high commissions were stressed during training & licensing period; we were encouraged to emulate the hard-sell tactics of the successful, utterly amoral salespeople who were making those commissions.

Those of us with any moral qualms or sympathy for customers were called timid losers who needed to overcome our lack of confidence in ourselves.