The annuitant is the person or persons who receive annuity payments. The annuitant is typically the annuity contract holder. The counterparty to the contract is the insurance company.
GMIB is an acronym that stands for guaranteed minimum income benefit. A GMIB is an optional “living benefit” guarantee that can be embedded into a variable annuity product. The GMIB provides a floor or a guaranteed minimum annuity payment regardless of investment performance. However, the annuity owner also has the option to lock-in a higher payout when annuitizing if investments have performed well and the contract value exceeds what it would be with the minimum income benefit. For example, Catherine invests $150,000 into a variable annuity and selects a GMIB that provides 4% annually. The capital markets have performed terribly and as a result the variable annuity contract value is only $75,000 at the end of 10 years. Catherine is in a good position though because she has $222,036 to annuitize as a result of the GMIB.