Displaying items by tag: fixed annuities

(New York)

Annuities have come a long way in the last few years, with industry standards and selling behavior becoming much cleaner. However, annuities sales are still a challenge because it is often hard to get an individual to trade a large, liquid lump sum for payments that can often be far in the future. With that said, TIAA has an annuity it debuted last year that might prove quite helpful. The provider’s Income Test Drive program allows buyers of annuities to opt out of their income agreements within two years without any penalty. The program is part of a wider trend in annuities, according a product manager in the space, saying “They used to have one product try to be everything to everybody, and the costs outweighed the benefits. Now there are more streamlined options”.

FINSUM: This TIAA option seems like a very good way to help investors bridge their anxiety about trading a lump sum for future income.

(New York)

A year ago, annuities looked like a product that had outlived its regulatory life cycle. The pending DOL fiduciary rule seemed completely incompatible with the product and its selling practices, so annuities appeared likely to take a big hit. Then the rule got shot down in court, and the whole picture changed. Data is now in on 2018 annuity sales and it looks strong—sales smashed all previous records. In virtually every category of annuities, sales were up considerably, in many case 20% or more.

FINSUM: The annuity sales outlook has completely changed. The next five years—as the number of people 65 or older hits 60 million—looks to be very strong.