<prompt> Human: There was a post the other day about annuities and how theyre a bad idea. The union Im a member of has an annuity that all members are automatically enrolled in and the company I work for puts in between 25 to 50 per week. I have the option to have additional funds from my pay diverted to the annuity and I was wondering if its a bad idea to do this? In addition to this I also contribute to my own vanguard account and my own Capital One stock account. The emergency fund is funded and aside from the house and car there are no other debts.  <response>: It depends on the annuity. The vast majority of annuities are complicated products that make it hard to figure out how much youre actually paying for mortality credits. Like, most of the value in an annuity someone tries to sell you is in the commission the salesman earns for fleecing you.On the other hand, Single Premium Immediate Annuities are often sold very close to their actuarial value, and a SPIA is very useful for protecting yourself from outliving your savings at age 70 or so. On the flip side, it means you dont get to leave as much of an inheritance behind, but thats often not a huge deal. 