Annuities
In the first half of the year, total annuity sales reached $114.6 billion, 5% lower than prior year. LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute's second quarter U.S. Individual Annuities Sales Survey...
Symetra rides new FIAs to record quarterly sales
Sales were driven by the March 2015 introduction of the Symetra Edge Plus Fixed Indexed Annuity and the Symetra Edge Premier Fixed Indexed Annuity, the company said.
If It Ain’t Fixed Indexed, It’s Broken
Fixed indexed annuities remain a niche product, representing only about 10% of annuity sales. But that the niche has grown into an almost $50 billion-a-year business. Sales of FIAs...
Switcheroo: New FIA credits benefit base, not account value
In most annuities with living benefits, the notional "benefit base" grows by a guaranteed "roll-up" amount each year, while the contract's account value depends on market performance. In Fidelity...
MetLife launches retail QLAC
Like several other insurers, MetLife is positioning its qualified longevity annuity contract in part as a way for IRA owners to exclude 25% of their tax-deferred savings (up to...
Northwestern Mutual offers dividend-paying QLAC
Northwestern Mutual’s actuaries have reproduced some of the attractive features of the variable-annuity-with-guaranteed-lifetime-withdrawal-benefit rider, but on a fixed income annuity chassis instead of a mutual fund chassis.
In FIA Arms Race, Hybrid Indexes are the Arms
Investors in Nationwide's New Heights fixed indexed annuities have a new index option: a globally diversified, multi-asset managed-volatility index from JP Morgan called MOZAIC.
Ruark reports “good news” on FIA policyholder behavior
AIG Life & Retirement, Allianz, American Equity, Athene, EquiTrust, Forethought, Midland National, Nationwide, OneAmerica, Pacific Life, Phoenix, and Security Benefit participated in Ruark Consulting's study of surrender and partial...
Lincoln’s new FIA links to risk-controlled S&P500 Index
The interest credited on the new OptiBlend option is based on the performance of the S&P 500 Daily Risk Control 5% Index.
MetLife launches QLAC as plan distribution option
Participants in plans with MetLife group annuity contracts can put 25% of their qualified savings (up to $125,000) into this new deferred income product, whose premium can be excluded...
FIAs on pace for record sales year: Wink
Allianz Life maintained its sales leadership position with a market share of 20.3%. American Equity Companies was again the second-ranked carrier, while Security Benefit Life, Great American Insurance Group,...
First quarter annuity sales rankings, from LIMRA
"Total annuity sales have been lower in the first quarter than the prior quarter eight out of the last nine years,” said Todd Giesing, senior business analyst at the...
Six Ways to Dress Up QLACs
RIJ spoke with annuity manufacturers and distributors about their strategies for selling qualified longevity annuity contracts, which are deferred income annuities for IRA money. The favorite, but not unanimous,...
Moshe Milevsky on Tontines
Moshe Milevsky's latest book, King William's Tontine, is reviewed here by University of Oklahoma law professor Jonathan B. Forman, himself a tontine expert. Milevsky and Forman think that tontines,...
FIA: Unofficial MVP of the LIMRA Conference
Fixed indexed annuities will “increase their dominant position in the individual U.S. annuity market” and “approach variable annuity sales levels over the next five years,” predicted actuary Tim...
AXA’s have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too approach to RMDs
AXA has developed RMD Wealth Guard, a guaranteed minimum death benefit designed to boost sales of its Retirement Cornerstone variable annuity among retirees who want to protect a chunk...
Are Annuity Buyers Smarter than Other People?
“The observed lack of annuitization does not necessarily mean that people are better off without annuities,” write retirement specialists Jeff Brown, Olivia Mitchell and others in a new research...
Pacific Life issues qualified longevity annuity
The insurer's press release positions the product mainly as a way for advisors to help their clients reduce annual taxes during retirement, instead of as insurance against running out...
Hueler’s Income Solutions now offers QLACs
Vanguard, Alliance Benefit Group, Beneplace and several large plan sponsors offer the Hueler platform to their plan participants.
AIG, BofA Merrill Lynch collaborate on index annuity option
Through a daily “non-discretionary process eliminates the impact that emotions may have on allocation decisions,” AIG said in a release, the contract moves money into cash when short-term...