Social security is an annuity, and one of the most popular retirement vehicles. I mentioned this in a comment below, but I believe private annuities aren't more

Social security is an annuity, and one of the most popular retirement vehicles. I mentioned this in a comment below, but I believe private annuities aren't more popular because a) the industry is rife with high fees, perverse incentives, trickery and b) they're not guaranteed. The insurance companies offering them can fail. If we had something akin to FDIC insurance for annuities, I'm positive they would become far more popular than they are.