IRA accounts generally can hold just about any investment; stocks, mutual funds. CD's, ETF's and government and corporate bonds.  They are extremely flexible especially if you use a brokerage IRA.  They can even hold fixed annuities and variable annuities.  However, financial planners debate if these are appropriate investments and it looks like a variable annuity with guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefits (GMWB) is becoming more popular with retiree's. 

The idea behind putting the variable annuity inside an IRA often is to obtain insurance guarantees.

Those guarantees include:

* Guaranteed death benefit. When you die, your beneficiaries are guaranteed to receive the principal or market value of the annuity, whichever is higher.

* Guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefits. With these guarantees, you're promised a return of at least all your contributions — regardless of how the underlying investments perform. The guarantee can come in the form of regular withdrawals paid over a specific period. One popular type of guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit, for example, promises a 5 percent withdrawal rate annually for life starting at age 65 — regardless of how the market performs or how long you live.

* Guaranteed minimum income benefit. With this, you can receive a guaranteed dollar amount in monthly income — regardless of how the contract's investments perform.

PalmBeachDailyNews.com asks if a variable annuity should be inside an IRA?