<prompt> Human: Im fairly financial savvy and Im not doing to shabby for a 34 year old. However, Im not so sure about my in-laws. We were having dinner the other night and talking about finances for the first time. FIL is about to retire and began explaining what he just bought. He explained that he just bought a 200k annuity. He says that it will start paying him when he retires in a few months. If he dies and the entire 200k is not depleted, it will reset itself back to 200k and then start paying MIL.Does this sound legit? What the hell did he just get sold?  <response>: Sounds like an immediate annuity and yes, they are legit. Kind of like backwards life insurance. Your FIL gave the annuity company a lump sum and then they turn around and give him a continuous stream of income for his life and then his wifes life once he dies. Actually, there are probably more optionsins and outs when it comes to these things but thats a sort of broad overview of it. 