Money Matters: Basics of Index Annuities Money Matters: Basics of Index Annuities By Leland Pinder | December 22, 2020 at 2:47 PM EST - Updated December 22 at 6:49 PM COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Josh Bradley of Capital City Financial Partners answers questions covering the basics of index annuities. What is an index annuity? âAn index annuity is very similar to a fixed-rate annuity that we talked about last week. Itâs completely principally protected. The big difference is, instead of earning a fixed interest thatâs pre-determined, an index annuity typically pays you in interest on how well a specific index performs ... the upside is based on a market index, however, because itâs fixed, you can never lose money with an index annuity.â