As a risk manager, I work with insurance companies, so I wanted to place the coverage with a company with an A++ rating to minimize the chance that I would lose the money due to company failure. Of the quotes I received, Mass Mutual and New York Life were the only two such companies out of the eight quoting. Mass Mutual was several thousands more expensive, giving a cashflow rate of 5.42% and New York has a cashflow rate of 5.72%. The cashflow rate range of my quotes was from 5.42 to 5.88%. Lesser-rated companies have the higher cashflow rates and five of the quotes clustered between 5.68 and 5.75%.
Bearing in mind that my entire 403(b) portfolio (approximately 53% stocks/47% bonds and short term mutual funds) had a return last year of 1.4%, this guaranteed annuity rate does not look too bad. If I could buy a CD or other guaranteed return investment vehicle right now with a rate upwards of 5%, I would have done so instead of the annuity, but Bankrate said the best right now was 3.05%. So I have some guaranteed income stream with the annuity and SSI, and I will have some income stream subject to the market. Hopefully when I retire there will be no significant downturns, but I am not betting on that.
PS: I forgot to mention: my research showed that Blueprint Income and Immediate Annuities were the most popular places to buy annuities directly. I was interested to see that I received slightly better quotes from Immediate Annuities, and I wonder if the difference was due to different commission rates.