Well, one interesting product I found.
at age 51 I could get a fixed annuity, with early death protection ( you, oops, your estate get nominal premium less payments back if greater than zero), paying $978 / m, for a onetime payment of $250k. Thats a AAA rated "SWR" with no capital loss of 4.7%. Before inflation of course, thats the trick. By age 70 it'll be worth half that, maybe a lot less.
age 60? Only a little better at 5.4% yield, $1120 /m, so best to buy it young I'd say! ;-)
There are a lot of people freaking out over in investor alley about the next market crash, falling yields, the sky falling, etc etc.
If you are over 50 and aren't eligible for social security or a pension this is not a bad option for those too risk averse to put much in the stock market, and so hold too much cash. It is worse than a balanced portfolio, IMHO, because of the inflation. It also puts a nice cash asset value on any pension or SS you do get.
I have not price compared this annuity btw. Maybe better is available in the free market anyhow?
It was the 51 starting age that got me... :-)