Sales of certain fixed annuities were lifted by the recent uptick in the Fed's benchmark interest rate, but sales of variable and indexed annuities were depressed in the first quarter of 2017 by uncertainty over the future of the DOL fiduciary rule.

The anticipated low return environment doesn't have to ruin your retirement plans, according to industry and academic speakers at the Pension Research Council's annual symposium, held May 4-5 at Penn's Wharton School.

Prudential and AXA have remained among the perennial leaders of the variable annuity space by patiently tweaking existing products and exploiting niche opportunities.

'The only way to get closer to meeting your spending goals is through some sort of partial annuitization strategy,' said Michael Finke, dean of The American College of Financial Services, at the Retirement Industry Conference in Orlando last week.