Annuity Guides & Resources
Free educational content written by immediate annuity specialists who work for you, not the insurance companies. Every guide is written around one product, the single premium immediate annuity (SPIA): a lump sum exchanged for a guaranteed monthly check for life. The comparison guides show where a SPIA fits and where it does not. No sales pitch, just the information you need to make an informed decision.
Getting Started
Immediate Retirement Income
Need income now? What $100,000 pays starting next month from 55 to 80, how a SPIA compares with CDs, dividends and claiming Social Security at 62, and the bridge SPIA that carries you to the age-70 check.
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What Is a SPIA?
The single premium immediate annuity explained: current payout rates, options, taxes, and how to buy one the right way.
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What Is a Life Annuity?
A complete guide to how life annuities work, who they're for, and how they differ from other retirement products.
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Types of Annuities Explained
Immediate, deferred, fixed, indexed, variable: what each does, and why the SPIA is the one built for income now.
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Pros and Cons of Annuities
An honest, balanced assessment of annuity benefits and drawbacks to help you decide if one is right for you.
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How Annuities Work
A step-by-step guide to how annuities work, from purchase to monthly payouts, plus payout options and real examples.
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Annuity Retirement Planning
How to build an income floor, fill the Social Security gap, and use the annuity ladder strategy.
Read Guide →Can You Buy an Annuity at Any Age?
Carrier-by-carrier issue-age limits for immediate annuities (80 to 95), why the practical floor is 55 and the tax code's 59½ line, what $100,000 pays at 75 and 80, and how buying for a parent, spouse, or an age-gap couple works.
Read Guide →Comparisons
Annuity vs. 401(k)
Side-by-side comparison of annuities and 401(k) plans. When to choose each, and when to use both.
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Best Age to Buy an Annuity
Age-by-age analysis of annuity rates, trade-offs, and the optimal time to convert savings to income.
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Fixed vs. Variable Annuities
Compare fixed and variable annuities side by side, with fees, returns, risk, and guarantees explained.
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Annuity vs. CD
A CD pays interest and returns your money. A SPIA pays a check for life. The numbers at 65, side by side.
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Annuity vs. Social Security
How annuities and Social Security work together to provide guaranteed retirement income.
Read Guide →Spendthrift Trust vs. Annuity
Protecting an inheritance for an adult child: what a trust costs and blocks, when a restricted annuity does the job for less, and when only a trust will do.
Read Guide →Which Annuity Company Pays the Most?
New York Life leads 17 of the 18 cells in our October 2026 tables (Western & Southern takes joint life at 80), with the lowest carrier paying 11% to 24% less than the top one; league tables for men, women and couples at 55 to 80 with the three highest payers, the lowest and the spread per $100,000.
Read Guide →How Much Does an Annuity Pay?
$100,000 Annuity Payouts
Monthly income from a $100,000 SPIA by age and gender, from our current rate tables, updated each month.
Read Guide →$200,000 Annuity Payouts
What $200,000 pays per month, and how it fills the Social Security gap.
Read Guide →$250,000 Annuity Payouts
Monthly income from $250,000. Why the state guaranty limit matters at this level.
Read Guide →$300,000 Annuity Payouts
How $300,000 recreates a traditional pension, with current payouts by age.
Read Guide →$500,000 Annuity Payouts
Monthly income from $500,000, plus laddering and multi-carrier strategies.
Read Guide →$1,000,000 Annuity Payouts
How to deploy $1 million into guaranteed income across multiple carriers.
Read Guide →$50,000 Annuity Payouts
What $50,000 pays per month. Enough to cover one recurring bill for life, and every carrier we quote accepts it.
Read Guide →$150,000 Annuity Payouts
Monthly income from $150,000, the pension-supplement amount, by age and gender.
Read Guide →$400,000 Annuity Payouts
What $400,000 pays per month, and how to split it across two carriers under the guaranty limit.
Read Guide →$750,000 Annuity Payouts
Monthly income from $750,000: three-carrier splits, laddering, and staged annuitization.
Read Guide →$2,000,000 Annuity Payouts
How $2 million converts to guaranteed income across four or more carriers, in stages.
Read Guide →Cost of a $1,000/Month Annuity
The lump sum needed to buy $1,000 a month for life, by age. Best vs. average carrier, plus a reverse calculator.
Read Guide →Cost of a $2,000/Month Annuity
What it costs to guarantee $2,000 a month for life at each age from 55 to 80.
Read Guide →Cost of a $3,000/Month Annuity
The premium required for $3,000 a month for life (single, female, and joint), with an income-gap worksheet.
Read Guide →Cost of a $5,000/Month Annuity
How much you need to buy $5,000 a month for life, and how to split it across carriers.
Read Guide →Payout Options & Strategy
Guaranteed Lifetime Income: 4 Ways to Get It
Social Security, a pension, a SPIA and an income rider side by side: who guarantees each, what $100,000 pays at 65 and 70, survivor and inflation options, the liquidity trade, and how much of your savings to convert.
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Annuity Payout Options
What each SPIA payout option pays and about what the guarantee costs per month at 65, 70 and 75: life only, period certain, cash refund, joint & survivor.
Read Guide →Joint & Survivor: 100% vs. 75% vs. 50%
What 100%, 75% and 50% joint-and-survivor SPIAs pay couples at 65 and 70, real age-gap quotes, and how to size the survivor percentage.
Read Guide →Annuities for Couples
What a joint annuity pays a couple at 55 to 80 ($608 a month per $100,000 at 65, 100% to the survivor), what the second life costs against a single man ($85) or woman ($50), what 75% and 50% survivor levels do, and how couples get quoted on two birth dates.
Read Guide →How to Compare SPIA Quotes
Why the A-rated carriers in our tables sit 14 to 17% apart on the same SPIA, the hold-constant checklist, and how to get an apples-to-apples quote.
Read Guide →SPIA vs. Deferred Income Annuity vs. MYGA
Income now or later? Side-by-side comparison plus a computed MYGA-then-SPIA ladder with breakeven age and a decision flow.
Read Guide →Tax & Legal
Buying an Annuity With IRA or 401(k) Money
Trustee-to-trustee transfers, RMDs after partial annuitization, the SECURE 2.0 aggregation rule, Roth, and QLAC vs. SPIA.
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How Are Annuities Taxed?
Federal and state tax treatment of annuity income: qualified vs. non-qualified, exclusion ratios, and more.
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Annuity Costs & Fees
The truth about annuity fees by type, from zero-fee fixed annuities to high-cost variable products.
Read Guide →State Taxes on Annuities: All 50 States
Which states tax annuity payments, which nine charge nothing, why Pennsylvania, Illinois and New York exempt only qualified money, and the six states with a premium tax on the purchase.
Read Guide →Is a Life Insurance Annuity Payout Taxable?
The death benefit stays tax-free under IRC 101(a) but the interest an insurer adds to installment or life-income settlement options is taxable; see the worked example on $250,000 and how the insurer's option compares with a best-of-8-carrier SPIA.
Read Guide →Annuity Exclusion Ratio (With Calculator)
The IRS formula that makes part of every non-qualified SPIA payment tax-free, worked at 60, 65 and 70 on our current rate tables, with an inline calculator using the Pub 939 tables.
Read Guide →Does an Annuity Affect Social Security?
An annuity never lowers the Social Security check itself. Where it does count (the tax on benefits, Medicare IRMAA, SSI and Medicaid), worked on a $100,000 SPIA paying $693 a month at 65: about $3,300 a year enters the formulas if bought with after-tax money, all $8,316 if bought with IRA money.
Read Guide →Ready to take the next step?
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