These principles are difficult to follow in the annuities market. Annuity brokers may be employees or otherwise affiliated with the issuer of annuities they sell. Do you know an annuities discount broker? We don't.  Have you ever found on the Internet a published tariff of commission rates for annuities brokers? We have not. Looking for the bid and ask price for annuities like you find for stocks? Forget it, they are an illiquid investment for which there is no secondary market.

Despite these characteristics we did find a reasonable number of internet sources of information on annuities which you may find of interest. At the end of this commentary we give a list of our main sources (websites or articles). As is our usual practice, we provide in each case a PDF or internet link to allow you to consult them directly yourself. We will regularly refer to these sources and others during this series of reviews. We encourage you to browse through them them  before our next commentary in this series.

In Canada, if investors consider buying an annuity at all, it is when they reach the age limit for holding an RRSP. In the next commentary we look more closely at the reasons to buy or not to buy an annuity, at that time or at any other time. By reading the sources we give above and the commentaries in this series, you may decide that saving more pre-retirement so that you do not have to buy an annuity is your best course of action. If this is your conclusion, your reading was worthwhile. Our purpose is not to recommend annuities, but to make you reflect on longevity risk and how to adress it.