Annuity Product Sales Trend Lines Start to Converge

New annuity sales figures show that clients are warming up a little to investment risk.

In spite of the ongoing war in Ukraine and the new conflict between Israel and Gaza, sales of U.S. individual deferred variable annuities rose 1% between the third quarter of 2022 and the third quarter of this year, to $24 billion, according to the latest issuer survey data from Wink.

That’s the first year-over-year increase in sales Wink has recorded for variable annuities since the fourth quarter of 2021, when rates on fixed annuities were near zero and the economy was emerging from the early COVID-19 pandemic freeze.

Wink’s variable category includes traditional variable annuity sales and registered index-linked annuities, or variable annuities that use investment indexes, rather than mutual funds, to power their investment option menus.

Overall individual deferred annuity sales increased 8.5%, to $79 billion.

What it means: Retirement savers seem to be hungrier for gains than they are scared of geopolitical risk.