Lisa Gerstner
About the Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards 2025
The Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards aim to recognize and celebrate the best products and services in the personal finance arena. We asked you, our Kiplinger community, to help us name the products and services you think have delivered excellent value in the past year.
The survey results, which we’re sharing here in our second annual Readers’ Choice Awards, offer valuable insight into which providers shine when it comes to your everyday interactions and experiences with them. Our Awards recognize excellence in everything from credit cards, banks and brokers to insurers, tax software and financial apps. For each category, we’ve listed an overall winner that earned the highest score. We’ve also highlighted other products and services that earned above-average scores for various criteria we asked readers to assess.
By voting, our community has helped us form our guide to the very best financial products. These are the products and companies that you think stand out from the crowd.
Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards: Annuity Providers
Annuities are contracts that allow you to pay up front or over time in exchange for the opportunity to create a steady stream of income in retirement; they may be fixed or variable, and they may provide income immediately or in the future. We asked readers to assess their annuity provider based on customer service, their overall satisfaction with the company and how likely they are to recommend it to others.
OVERALL WINNER: New York Life
Outstanding for:
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- Customer service
- Most recommended
- Overall satisfaction
Readers rated New York Life's annuities highly in all three categories we asked them to judge. Several respondents expressed appreciation for the strength of the firm’s communication with clients. And one reader noted that New York Life’s annuities offer “very competitive rates” compared with other annuities on the market.
New York Life has been serving clients for 180 years and holds the highest financial-strength ratings from all four major credit rating agencies: A.M. Best (A++), Fitch (AAA), Moody's (Aa1), and Standard & Poor's (AA+). Its annuity products include fixed deferred annuities, variable annuities and immediate income annuities.
Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America
Outstanding for:
- Customer service
- Most recommended
- Overall satisfaction
Allianz Life offers two main categories of annuities: fixed index annuities and registered index-linked annuities, also known as buffered annuities. While the former provides potential for growth linked to market indexes with principal protection, the latter offers higher growth potential with some market risk, featuring various index options and crediting methods.
Multiple readers pointed out that Allianz Life annuities offer great sign-up bonuses. "Their bonuses for annuities are amazing. I opened six months ago and got a 47% bonus annuity,” says one reader. With these sign-up bonuses, a certain percentage of the initial premium is credited to the annuity's value, typically lasting about 18 months.
MassMutual
Outstanding for:
- Most recommended
- Overall satisfaction
MassMutual offers the gamut of annuity products, including fixed annuities, fixed-index annuities, registered index-linked annuities and immediate annuities. MassMutual also holds some of the highest ratings from all major credit rating agencies: A++ from A.M. Best, AA+ from Fitch, Aa3 from Moody’s, and AA+ from Standard & Poor’s.
Nationwide
Outstanding for:
- Customer service
Nationwide earned accolades for its customer service. The firm offers an array of annuity products, including fixed annuities, fixed-indexed annuities, registered index-linked annuities and immediate annuities. Some contracts allow free withdrawals up to a specified percentage annually without surrender charges.
TIAA
Oustanding for:
- Customer service
“Carnegie provided a great benefit to the nation's teachers when he set up TIAA!” says one reader.
Originally established in 1918 to provide retirement services to educators, TIAA has since expanded its offerings to include a broader range of nonprofit and public-sector employees, including professionals in academic, research, medical, government and cultural fields. TIAA earned high ratings from readers, particularly for customer service.
TIAA's annuity offerings, such as the TIAA Traditional Annuity, are available through employer-sponsored retirement plans such as 403(b)s and 401(k)s, as well as IRAs.
Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards Categories
- Readers' Choice Full-Service Brokers
- Readers' Choice Wealth Management
- Readers' Choice Cash Back Credit Cards
- Readers' Choice Travel Rewards Credit Cards
- Readers' Choice Airline Credit Card Rewards Programs
- Readers' Choice Hotel Credit Card Rewards Programs
- Readers' Choice National Banks
- Readers' Choice Internet Banks
- Readers' Choice Auto Insurance Companies
- Readers' Choice Homeowners Insurance Companies
- Readers' Choice Tax Software
- Readers' Choice Peer-to-Peer Payment Services
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