Why Aren’t More RIAs Offering Annuities? Flourish President Blames Weak Tech
May 21, 2024 by Allison Bell
Ben Cruikshank maintains that the gap between the annuity tech tools RIAs have in theory and the tools they really have is wide.
Cruikshank is the president of Flourish, a financial technology firm that’s owned by MassMutual and launched an annuity distribution arm in January.
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Wink’s Moore on the Market: I think a distinction needs to be made here-
There are two types of RIAs in the annuity realm, if you ask me.
1. The fee-based or fee-only investment advisor; and
2. The insurance agent who also does assets under management.
#1 only sells fee-based annuities, if at all.
#2 sells commissioned annuities.
Today, only 1.98% of the $349.1 billion in deferred annuity sales is attributable to #1.
On the other hand, #2 accounts for a significant amount of sales through the independent agent distribution channel.
Here, Ben Cruikshank shares some thoughts on why more fee-based/fee only RIAs aren’t selling more annuities. -sjm
