News on a recent deferred income annuity product release from New York Life:

Two of the most daunting risks faced by the majority of retirees are:

What are the cons or downsides of a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit (GLWB) from the annuitant's perspective?

This question is answered and open for discussion in the forum section and can be accessed by clicking on the following:

http://www.annuitydigest.com/forum/cons-guaranteed-lifetime-withdrawal-benefit-glwb

American Fidelity Assurance Company is one of the largest privately held insurance companies.  Founded in 1960, American Fidelity is now a third-generation family-owned company, with more than 1 million customers in the US and in 23 countries worldwide.

American Fidelity offers a variety of annuities and retirement plans and has built a specialty in providing 403(b) annuities to employees who work in the educational field.

General categories of products offered by America Fidelity include:

Annuities

Living benefits (also known as guaranteed living benefits) are optional guarantees that can be built into variable annuity products.  These "options" are typically added as "riders" to a variable annuity contract.  Living benefits are very powerful product features and something that should be discussed with a financial advisor whenever the conversation involves variable annuities. 

Annuities can be very effective in providing protection against market volatility.

There is a very good article on that site that discusses how owners of certain types of variable annuities have been insulated from many of the effects of the financial crisis.  That article can be found by clicking here.

Annuities are products that combine insurance and, in the case of variable annuities, asset management.  Costs are absolutely critical, so definitely ask you financial advisor to spell-out the costs for each of the items discussed below.