Annuitization Options Law and Legal Definition
Annuitization is the process by which an investor converts all or part of his/her money invested in a qualified retirement plan or nonqualified annuity contract into a series of regular income payments. Once adjusted and fixed, the payment schedule and the amount of fixed income to be received cannot be altered. This conversion can be mobilized for an investor’s lifetime or the lifetimes of the investor as well as the joint annuitant. In certain cases, annuities can also be received as a lump sum single payment UP on completion of a specific period. Sometimes, a portion of the money could go to the person's estate, to a trust or to the insurance company depending on the terms of the annuity policy. Annuitization options refer to the different choices available for investors to annuitize. Although the choice of a particular annuitization strategy will change the distribution of benefits, the total amount of Social Security benefits, including both the traditional benefit and the annuitized benefit, may not vary a great deal from one strategy to another.
