In a fixed annuity, the insurance company guarantees the principal and a minimum rate of interest; in other words, as long as the insurance company is financially ........., the money you have in a fixed annuity will grow and will not drop in value.

The growth of the annuity's value and/or the benefits paid may be fixed at a dollar amount or by an interest ........., or they may grow by a specified formula.

And the growth of the annuity's value and/or the benefits paid does not depend directly or entirely on the ......... of the investments the insurance company makes to support the annuity.

Some fixed annuities credit a higher interest rate than the minimum, via a policy dividend that may be ......... by the company's board of directors, if the company's actual investment, expense and mortality experience is more favorable than was expected.

Money in a variable annuity is invested in a fund-like a mutual fund but one ......... only to investors in the insurance company's variable life insurance and variable annuities.

The fund has a particular investment objective, and the value of your money in a variable annuity and the amount of money to be paid out to you-is determined by the investment performance (......... of expenses) of that fund.

An equity-indexed annuity is a type of fixed annuity, but looks like a .........: it credits a minimum rate of interest, just as a fixed annuity does, but its value is also based on the performance of a specified stock index — usually computed as a fraction of that index's total return.

A market-value-adjusted annuity is one that combines two desirable features-the ability to select and fix the time period ......... which your annuity will grow, and the flexibility to withdraw money from the annuity before the end of the time period selected.

A fixed period annuity pays an income for a specified period of time; the payments depend on the amount paid into the annuity, the length of the payout period, and (if it's a fixed annuity) an interest rate that the insurance company believes it can ......... for the length of the pay-out period.

A lifetime annuity provides income for the remaining life of a person (called the .........); no other type of financial product can promise to do this.