We're living longer and many people are concerned about outliving their retirement assets. Annuities have become an extraordinarily popular investment for retirement income planning. At heart, annuities are simple mathematical concepts: lump sums of money paid out in equal installments over time until the original funds are exhausted. In practice, the concept is more complex so it's important to be knowledgeable before purchasing an annuity. We'll guide you through annuity basics, contract structure, and analysis.