Ask ten people what they think of annuities and you will get two answers, both delivered with total certainty.
"They are the only way to guarantee you never run out of money."
"They are expensive garbage sold by people with commission quotas."
Here is the thing. Both camps are describing real products. They are just describing different products that happen to share a name.
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An immediate annuity and a variable annuity have about as much in common as a bus ticket and a timeshare. Same word on the brochure. Completely different machine inside.
So before anyone tells you annuities are good or bad, you need to know which one is on the table. That is the whole article.