The fear of outliving your money ranks among the most persistent anxieties in retirement planning. Even a disciplined saver can find that a long life, an unexpected health expense, or a bad sequence of market returns erodes a nest egg faster than anticipated. Careful management of IRA or 401(k) withdrawals reduces that risk, but it does not eliminate it.
One product that promises to remove the guesswork is an annuity. An annuity is a contract you sign with an insurance company that can guarantee you income for the rest of your life. Personal finance commentator Dave Ramsey compares shopping for an annuity to ordering a burrito at Chipotle: these products come in many combinations and can be customized to suit individual needs.
With an annuity, you can decide:
- How you want to pay for it, whether through a lump sum or a series of payments
- When you want payments to begin
- Whether you want fixed, predictable monthly income or a variable payout tied to market performance
Ramsey acknowledges the genuine appeal of a product that pays you for life. His overall assessment of annuities is sharply negative, though, and his objections are specific enough to be worth understanding before you sign anything.
Why Ramsey is not a fan of annuities
The emotional hook behind annuity marketing is the fear of running out of money, and Ramsey understands why that resonates. His core problem is with the price tag attached to the solution. He cites several structural drawbacks that he believes make annuities a poor choice for most people.
The first concern is surrender charges. If you need to access your money early or cancel the contract within the first several years, you face a penalty. Industry data show surrender charges often reach 7% to 8% or more of the annuity value, and the surrender period typically extends for around eight years. For retirees who may face unexpected costs, that is a meaningful liquidity risk.
Second, Ramsey takes aim at fees and commissions. Insurance companies can charge ongoing management fees ranging from 0.50% to as much as 3% annually on variable annuity contracts, and the agents who sell these products earn commissions that are ultimately folded into the product’s cost. Those fees compound quietly over time and chip away at returns.
Third, fixed annuities can struggle to keep pace with inflation. A payment that felt generous in year one of retirement may cover substantially less purchasing power by year fifteen or twenty. Ramsey argues that assets with real growth potential, such as stock mutual funds, are better equipped to preserve buying power over a long retirement.
Finally, Ramsey warns that annuities are simply complex. Contracts can run dozens of pages and include riders, caps, participation rates, and exclusions that are difficult to evaluate without professional help. His standing advice is to avoid financial products you do not fully understand, and annuities often qualify.
That said, Ramsey’s critique lands most squarely on variable annuities, the product category with the highest fees and the most moving parts. It applies far less to simpler structures. Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuities (MYGAs), for example, carry no annual management fees and no market risk. As of July 2026, top 5-year MYGA rates from leading carriers reach approximately 6.30% on a compound basis, compared to roughly 4.15% to 4.28% for top 5-year bank CDs. That gap widens further once the MYGA’s tax-deferred compounding is factored in: CD interest is taxed annually even when you never touch the money, while a MYGA defers that tax until withdrawal. For a retiree focused on principal protection rather than aggressive accumulation, a no-fee fixed annuity functions more like a conservative insurance policy than a growth investment.
Should you buy an annuity?
The annuity market has grown dramatically in recent years, driven by genuine demand for guaranteed income. According to LIMRA’s final 2025 results, total U.S. annuity sales reached a record $464.1 billion, up 7% year over year, with the fourth quarter alone jumping 14% to $117.2 billion — the ninth consecutive quarter above $100 billion. That growth is fueled in part by the “Peak 65” demographic wave, with roughly 4.1 million Americans turning 65 each year and fewer of them covered by traditional pensions. Indexed products, including Registered Index-Linked Annuities (RILAs) and Fixed Index Annuities (FIAs), now represent 45% of total annuity sales, up from just 24% of the market a decade ago, reflecting a broad shift toward products that balance protection with growth potential.
LIMRA research also found that 54% of Baby Boomers and Gen X investors worry about outliving their savings. Yet fewer than one in five pre-retirees actually own an annuity, a gap that points to how unfamiliar many people remain with how these products work.
Whether one belongs in your retirement plan depends on what problem you are trying to solve. If outliving your assets is the central concern, a simple income annuity or MYGA can provide a reliable income floor that supplements Social Security without the heavy fees Ramsey rightly criticizes in traditional variable products. FIAs offer a middle path: your principal is shielded from market losses through a 0% floor, while gains are linked to a market index up to a cap or participation rate. RILAs take on a modest amount of downside risk in exchange for higher upside caps, a structure that has attracted investors who want more growth potential than a fixed product but more protection than a traditional variable annuity.
If your Social Security benefit is large enough to cover your basic living expenses, you may have less need for an additional guaranteed income layer, freeing up capital for growth-oriented investments. The key question is not whether annuities are good or bad in the abstract but whether the specific product you are considering solves a real problem in your plan at a cost that makes sense. Working with a fee-only fiduciary advisor, rather than someone earning a commission, is the most reliable way to get a clear-eyed answer.
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Editor’s note: This pass updated the 5-year MYGA rate to approximately 6.30% compound as of July 2026, corrected the 5-year CD comparison range to 4.15%–4.28%, added LIMRA’s confirmed full-year 2025 annuity sales total of $464.1 billion with fourth-quarter detail, and included LIMRA data showing indexed products now represent 45% of total annuity sales, up from 24% a decade ago.
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