What are "living benefit" options associated with annuities and how do they work?

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. 

This site's glossary provides a solid overview of living benefits.  In a nutshell, living benefits provide owners of variable annuities with income, accumulation, or withdrawal guarantees that can provide a significant measure of protection against market risk while the annuitant is alive.

A list of various types of living benefits is as follows--scroll over or click on any of the terms below to learn more about the living benefit:

1) Guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit

2) Guaranteed minimum accumulation benefit

3) Guaranteed minimum income benefit

4) Guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit