 The annuity starts making regular payments to the annuitant within a year.A common use of a single premium annuity is as a destination for roll-over retirement savings upon retirement.In such a case, a retiree withdraws all of the money he/she has saved during working life in, for example, an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), and uses some or all of the money to buy an annuity whose payments will replace the retiree's wage payments for the rest of his/her life.