In this Globe and Mail article, Rob Carrick explains in detail life annuities that guarantee you retirement income.  Along with quotes from our VP Estate Planning, Asher Tward,  Mr. Carrick explains how annuities are rigid investments that you are locked-in to, providing low payouts:

Guaranteed Retirement Income, But At A Price

By: Rob Carrick at the Globe and Mail (February 25, 2011)

“The life annuity is a retirement investing product with to-die-for optics.

Life annuities pay a regular, guaranteed amount of money every month for as long as you live, which addresses two big retirement risks. One, that the stock market will crash just as you’re about to start drawing down on your retirement savings and, two, that you’ll outlive your savings.

Worry-free income for people who don’t have company pension plans – that’s the idealized view of life annuities. But for reasons that relate both to current financial market conditions and the way in which life annuities are constructed, their real-world appeal is limited.“ READ  MORE AT SOURCE…