if you're one of the millions of Americans (like me) that don't have a pension plan through your work,  consider taking a portion of your nest egg and creating an annuity income stream.  It's a solid strategy and as Bankrate.com explains may lead to "retirement happiness."

"People who derived much of their retirement resources from an annuity exhibited fewer depression symptoms," says Panis about his 2004 study of defined-benefit pensions. "At any given level of income, just having a portion of retirement resources in the form of annuities was perceived as having more money."

Some employers offer an annuity feature to workers in their 401(k) and 403(b) retirement accounts when it's time to withdraw the assets. With these plans, savers can opt to receive their accumulated assets or a portion of their assets as a lifetime annuity. Larger corporations are more apt to offer this feature.

But the most common way to annuitize is with an immediate or payout annuity purchased from an insurance company. In exchange for a lump-sum payment, you receive monthly income.