Description: Traditionally, life insurance companies have depended on individual whole life insurance policies for their growth in assets. This has changed in recent years. Now, annuities, particularly individual annuities, have become the largest part of new individual premiums. Companies have responded by issuing a plethora of imaginative products. These are often founded on a variety of recently developed financial instruments, such as derivatives. This article is about the Actuarial Foundation's study of the risks of these new annuity products and the new financial instruments underlying them. The study will culminate in a scientific conference in New York in December 1998.