Allianz: Crisis Could Help Annuity Sales
February 12, 2010 by NU ONLINE NEWS SERVICE
Published 2/11/2010
U.S. residents have responded to the Great Recession by saving more and showing more interest in relatively conservative savings and investment vehicles.
Analysts at Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, Golden Valley, Minn., a unit of Allianz S.E., Munich, Germany, have published those conclusions in a commentary on the effects of the recent drop in household wealth on consumption and savings.
The savings rate already has increased from close to 0 before the recession started to an average of about 4.6% in 2009, Allianz analysts note.
Efforts to replace lost wealth could increase the savings rate to more than 6%, or about $500 billion per year, the analysts write.
The kind of shift could be helpful to sellers of annuities as well as sellers of mutual funds and stocks, and the decreased level of risk tolerance could make annuities more attractive, the analysts write.
U.S. residents have responded to the Great Recession by saving more and showing more interest in relatively conservative savings and investment vehicles.
Analysts at Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, Golden Valley, Minn., a unit of Allianz S.E., Munich, Germany, have published those conclusions in a commentary on the effects of the recent drop in household wealth on consumption and savings.
The savings rate already has increased from close to 0 before the recession started to an average of about 4.6% in 2009, Allianz analysts note.
Efforts to replace lost wealth could increase the savings rate to more than 6%, or about $500 billion per year, the analysts write.
The kind of shift could be helpful to sellers of annuities as well as sellers of mutual funds and stocks, and the decreased level of risk tolerance could make annuities more attractive, the analysts write.