I have a Flexible Premium Deferred Annuity. I opened it when I was 18 (circa 1994), when my parents sent me to their friend (an insurance agent) to get me started with retirement savings. It's inside a traditional IRA, so I was able to deduct contributions from my taxes while I was making them. It's always been hard to get straight answers about what exactly this product is.
I stopped contributing to the annuity once I figured out there were better options. But I left my contributions there, and it's worth about $100k now, gaining a paltry 3% per year for the last 20 years. I don't see it as an awful part of my retirement portfolio--it introduced me to monthly tax advantage savings when I was young. Now it makes up a small--but not insignificant--portion of my assets. I wouldn't recommend this investment to anyone, but at the same time I'm not angry that I have one. My parents simply weren't savvy enough to know better.