Is An Annuity A Qualified Retirement Plan? 
Is an annuity a qualified retirement plan ? NO . An annuity can be `` used '' in or as part of a qualified retirement plan . An annuity on it 's own is not a qualified retirement plan . Where people get confused terminology wise is when they have a product -LRB- like an annuity -RRB- in their retirement plan , so they consider the annuity to `` be '' the retirement plan . The easiest way to think of retirement plans is they are a box , that stuff goes into . A qualified retirement plan is a box that you can put stocks , bonds , mutual funds and annuities into . The `` box '' is what makes them `` qualified . '' 