Annuities Pay on the Way to Retirement

The challenges facing many baby boomers include having to pay for their children's education, while possibly caring for an aging parent. This can come as quite a shock to most people who, in addition to all that, have their own approaching retirement to worry about.

However, annuities can help ease the financial burden. Annuities are flexible insurance contracts designed to provide income and tax-deferred growth, while helping people achieve their long-term savings and retirement goals. There are many different types of annuities, but for our discussion here are the four major types:

• Fixed annuities: These are contracts that pay out a fixed benefit for the life of the contract. The underlying investments are chosen by the insurance company.
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