Record annuity sales display changing product mix
February 26, 2019 by Tobias Salinger
Record sales in fixed annuities driven by equity volatility and rising interest rates yielded the highest quarterly revenue for issuers in nearly a decade. The conditions of the past few years have also altered the mix of variable products shaping the annuity space.
Fixed-rate deferred and fixed-index products helped boost total annuity sales by 22% year-over-year in the fourth quarter to $62.1 billion — the most revenue since the first quarter of 2009, according to the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute. The Dow hit the bottom of its Great Recession fall in March 2009.
“It’s not uncommon that, when we see volatility spike, we see fixed [annuities] spike as well,” says Todd Giesing, LIMRA’s director of annuity research.
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