What does ANNUITY means?

Annuity An annuity is a financial product used to grow money in order to give the owner a constant stream of payments in the future, such as when they retire. Annuities can be paid for a specific period of time such as 20 years or during the annuity owner's life time. Some are paid in fixed monthly, quarterly or yearly payment streams. Some annuities are purchased as investments through licensed financial agents and others, such as structured settlements, are used as a means to settle a lawsuit and also provide income over time. There are variable annuities that pay you monthly, quarterly or yearly. Since most variable annuities are fixed to the stock market you can receive higher or lower returns on your initial investment compared to a fixed annuity which pays you an exact amount on a set date regardless of how the stock market is doing.

It's when you pay the insurance company money, either a very large lump sum, or smaller monthly amounts for decades at a time, and after a while, they start paying you a monthly amount out of that. Kinda like a savings account, that you pay into, but THEY own, and then they give you an allowance every month, for the rest of your life.