Are you looking for the best annuity on the market, but not sure which type to choose for you and your spouse? Do you want to establish a secure retirement fund, or perhaps supplement the pension plan you already have in place?

The annuity advisors featured on Annuities.org can offer you information on everything from annuity rates, to the different types of annuities, to calculations on your payouts. We'll even help you with annuity comparisons, discuss tax benefits, and advise you on the best options available today.

Annuities are a way to prepare for adequate income in retirement

At the most basic level annuities are a financial product in which you give money either in a lump sum or over the course of time, to an investment firm or an insurance company. The intention being those funds are to accrue interest, or otherwise increasing in value, until such time as you will need access to that money later in life.

They can take on many different forms, and they can be quite complex. All annuities however, are set up the same way, with two stages over its lifecycle, the accumulation stage followed by the annuitization phase. As you might imagine during the accumulation stage, this is when you are making payments to the financial institution or insurance company and accumulating a return. The annuitization stage is when the annuity has matured, and you begin to take cash out, either in monthly or yearly installments.

Once matured, you will continue to receive regular payments from your annuity until you die. There is a death benefit to an annuity, but it is not exactly like the death benefit in a life insurance policy, which is for a specified amount. Instead when you die, your beneficiaries will receive what the annuity is worth, or what you have paid in up to that point – whichever is greater. But that death benefit only applies during the accumulation phase, once you have begun receiving regular annuity payments, the death benefit no longer applies. So if you start receiving monthly annuity payments at age 65 per you contract, and you die at age 67, unless you have purchased what is known as a "term certain" annuity, the insurance company gets to keep whatever money remains in the annuity. If, on the other hand you have a Term Certain annuity contract with a 10-year term, which starts at age 65, and you die 3 years later, your heirs will continue to receive your annuity payments for another 7 years.

The most attractive thing about annuities is that during the accumulation period, your money grows tax-deferred, which means you do not pay any taxes on the accumulated wealth, until you start receiving payouts.

Annuities are designed to be long-term investments. The best time to enter into an annuity contract is after you have made your maximum contributions to other tax –deferred savings plans such as 401K or IRA. There are basically two types of annuities, fixed annuities and variable annuities , with the differences being how the rate of return is based and calculated. There are up and downsides to each type of annuity contract. See the respective individual pages for greater details.