An insurance annuity is an investment instrument sold by insurance companies to the public. The investment insurance annuity may be either a fixed or a variable annuity. If the annuity holder pays a fixed amount to an insurance company, the company in turn pays the annuity holder regular fixed monthly amounts either for a fixed time period or for the lifetime to the annuity holder or beneficiaries.

If the contract has a stipulation of lifetime monthly payments, it is called annuitization. The company will make monthly payments to holders until their death. If a fixed time period is chosen for the payments, the incomes will only be received until the end of the fixed time period. The company will invest the amount obtained from the fixed annuities into government securities and bonds having low risk. On the other hand, on some annuities, holders will receive periodic payments depending on the performance of the funds or securities that the company has invested in. These annuities are called variable annuities.

Some annuities contain immediate periodic payout, while some have deferred. The annuity holder can obtain loan on the cash value of payments to the insurance company. The amount borrowed is not subject to tax, but the holder needs to pay some interest on the loan amount. If the holder dies before the repayment of the loan, that amount will be deducted from the death benefit. On the other hand, if the annuitant wants to cash out the policy, taxes have to be paid on the excess amount received above what has been paid in premiums to the company. The annuitant can defer tax, if any, and reduce insurance costs by converting the investment into a variable annuity. It is advisable for the annuity holder not to exchange the policy by foregoing all the financial benefits like tax exemption, regular monthly payments, etc.