What The Difference Between Annuities And IRA? 
An IRA is an `` Individual Retirement Arrangement '' which falls under IRS Publication 590 . There are many types of IRA accounts such as Traditional IRA , Roth IRA , SEP IRA and Simple IRA . IRA 's came about in 1974 through the Employee Retirement Income Security Act -LRB- ERISA -RRB- . There are limits as to how much you can contribute each year and when you can pull your money out without penalty . An annuity is a product sold by a financial institution that can grow and when annuitized , can produce an income stream . Annuities can be structured to pay out for a fixed period of time or for your entire lifetime . An annuity can be part of your IRA . 