Volatility Shows Why Annuities Matter: Corebridge's Pinsky

Bryan Pinsky may be helping hundreds of thousands of U.S. retirement savers sleep a little better at night.

Pinsky is now the president of individual retirement at Corebridge Financial, the Houston-based company that owns American General, VALIC and other companies that once operated under the AIG Life & Retirement name.

Corebridge ranked third in terms of U.S. individual annuity sales in 2022, with about $20 billion in new annualized premiums, including $5.6 billion in variable annuity sales and $14.5 billion in fixed annuity sales.

Pinsky, who has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, holds the chartered financial analyst designation and is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries. He started in insurance at Allstate, then moved to the annuity business at Prudential Financial in time to help clients, and their advisors, survive the Great Recession.

In 2008, during the worst days of the Great Recession, Pinsky urged advisors to steer nervous clients toward annuities and other products that might keep the clients from making rash decisions.

“Too often,” he said at the time, “clients fall prey to the emotions most commonly associated with investing: greed, fear and regret. … As a result, they end up selling low and buying high.”

Pinsky assumed his current position in 2021, about a year before AIG began separating from Corebridge by holding an initial public offering of Corebridge common stock.

He recently answered questions via email about current annuity market conditions. The answers have been edited.

THINKADVISOR: What market indicator are you watching most closely right now and why?

BRYAN PINSKY: I’m most closely watching the 10-year Treasury. The activity there has been incredible.

The rate on the 10-year [Treasury] more than doubled in 2022, and we have not seen a jump like that in over 40 years.

This increase has allowed annuity providers to raise crediting rates and the income levels for their products, with rates at their highest levels in decades.

As a result, sales for fixed annuities and fixed index annuities have been strong, and our industry has been working nonstop to meet the demand.

What forces out there are helping, and what forces are hurting clients?

The last 15 months of market volatility have been a perfect case study for the value of annuities. Nobody wants to live through markets like these, but the reality is that sometimes we do.

One key element in the value proposition for many annuities is the protection they seek to provide against down markets.

With market uncertainty where it is, now is an important moment for financial professionals to help clients address their concerns.