...My purchase of an annuity requires fewer funds to be removed from the mostly equity portfolio in order to cover basic needs. Result: If I had died early my heirs would have received less (but still a lot) and if I live a long time my heirs will receive more than if I had not annualized. meanwhile I get to watch a larger mostly stock portfolio grow. Annuities have lower payouts today than 10 years ago, but bond are likely to have negative or very low returns. So I think a SPIA or a TIAA annuity still makes sense if you are conservative enough to want more than your SS check to come from "safe" sources.
You make some good points.
As mentioned above, I also annuitized a decent chunk of $$$ with TIAA at start of retirement, age 63.
I had a seven year span until starting SS at age 70, so I did additional withdrawals from portfolio over those years to cover expenses.
But now, with almost $4k per month from SS coming in and over double that from TIAA lifetime annuities, I generally have excess income to invest most months.
However, the mix of guaranteed vs variable income should be considered. Of my income just mentioned, less than half is guaranteed (SS+ TIAA Traditional).
The majority of my income is variable (TIAA Real Estate Account +CREF Stock) based on a 4% "hurdle". So my monthly income based on those investments changes proportionally to their performance over 1.04.
Since the broad stock market, including dividends, has historically grown at more than double 4% annually, I have reasonable confidence my retirement income will grow and fight inflation to a degree.
It has for 8+ years so far...