How are annuities different from life insurance?

Both annuities and life insurance should be considered in your long-term financial plan. While both include death benefits, you buy life insurance in the event you die too soon and an annuity in case you live too long. In other words, life insurance provides economic protection to your loved ones if you die before your financial obligations to them are met, while annuities guard against outliving your assets. There are two main types of annuities—deferred and immediate—and two main types of life insurance—term and whole life. The chart below compares them.