When I was in my mid-40s, I started a couple of annuities. One was an IRA and the other was a Mutual Fund.
Hindsight: I wish I had bought stocks for some of the major companies instead of the mutual funds. For MFs, you don’t really see much gain, as you don’t actually own the stocks. Had I, for example, bought Walmart, it has split several times and would be worth much more than the comparable amount invested in mutual funds. Of course, the advantage with mutual funds is that ‘their experts’ do the investing and you supposedly reap the results.
The IRA locked in a guaranteed annual return, which was a joke amount, at the time. General interest rates for bank money markets were around 8%, and the IRA guaranteed a return of 4%. Laughably low at the time. However, since interest has dropped to near zero on regular bank savings and CDs, that 4% looks pretty good now.
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“When I was in my mid-40s, I started a couple of annuities. ‘
The problem was the annuities, they are NOT worth it, because they get you with the “guaranteed” return and payout, but it costs you much more than it’s worth.
There are many good mutual funds you can invest in within a 401K type account, or IRA or after tax.
Annuities usually don’t use the best funds and the “guarantee” eats up a lot of your return.