Many workers long for the sense of security that only an old-fashioned pension can provide. The big insurers are well aware of this, and that’s why many of them are offering new ways for investors to buy and build a pension on their own.

More than a dozen companies have recently begun pitching products, known as deferred-income annuities, that allow individuals to buy the income themselves: They pay a lump sum to an insurer — or make a series of payments over time — in exchange for a guaranteed paycheck for life that begins several years later.

It’s impossible to know whether these annuities are a wise buy for a simple reason — most people can’t predict how long they will live. But if you are trying to protect yourself from outliving your savings, you might view the purchase as an insurance policy. Others might use it as a way to provide some certainty around how much they can spend worry-free, since at least a portion of their income would be guaranteed.

More people are buying into those arguments: Sales of deferred-income annuities jumped to $2.2 billion in 2013, more than doubling from $1 billion the previous year and up from $200 million in 2011, when Limra. a retirement and insurance trade group, began tracking their sales. Right now, the typical buyer is about 59 and expects to begin collecting up to seven or so years later.

“It is these pre-retirees who are beginning to key in on, ‘What am I going to do for income in retirement?’ ” said Matthew Grove, head of individual annuities at New York Life. “It’s people realizing that, ‘I can invest in bonds, but I won’t get as much juice. I can buy equities, but I am taking more risk.’ This is kind of right in the middle, where I am driving income, but I am basically doing it with no risk to myself.”

You need to part with significant sums to generate the income, but the cost declines the longer you wait to collect the paycheck.

Consider a man who buys an annuity at 68 and immediately begins collecting lifetime income of $1,000 a month, or $12,000 annually. That will cost about $170,000, according to New York Life (and it costs $207,000 to cover a man and a woman who are both 68; women pay slightly more since they tend to live longer).

The Cost of Building Your Own Pension

Insurance companies have begun offering a “deferred income annuity” that allows individuals to build their own pensions. Generally, the cost of such annuities declines the longer you wait to collect the income. Some products pay the income only to individuals during their lifetimes, while others refund the amount the individual initially paid, minus any payments, to beneficiaries. Here is a summary of the costs for deferred income annuities offered by New York Life: