Welcome to the forum skwoo, hopefully you will pick up some useful information for your transition into ER, there a number of interesting posts on this site.
As for the off-topic subject, annuities can be useful, but only for a very select few amount of people. The number is really so small that it should not be the first thing mentioned to someone, since it requires a very particular set of criteria be met for it to be appropriate for them. Annuities are one of the most expensive (and forcefully pushed) types of investment vehicles pushed by brokers, so people will usually bristle here unless it has been established that something like an annuity would be appropriate in the situation (it usually is appropriate as part of an investment strategy for someone who has a lot of money and not much ability for managing it themselves). The part about not being able to manage it themselves it what will often clash very strongly with this forum (or many other forums) because someone intelligent enough to seek out and research retirement, and have earned a lot of money, are usually within the group who can manage their money, at least to the minimal degree required, without using an annuity.
One example of a possible candidate for an annuity would be a surviving spouse who does not know anything about investing. There would need to be more to it than that, but that would be the type of person who would be more likely to be in need of an annuity for some of their funds.
