Investors Race to Lock in Firm Annuity Guarantees

The players: Athene continues to lead in the fixed-rate deferred annuity market, with first-half sales increasing to $10.6 billion, from $10.1 billion for the comparable period in 2023.

Athene and the other top players, Corebridge and MassMutual, accounted for a total of $26 billion in sales.

That’s up from a total of $22 billion in sales for the top three players in the first half of 2023.

But the top 20 players increased their share of total volume to 80%, from 73%.

Indexed products: Sales of registered index-linked annuities and other indexed annuities increased 16%, to $81 billion.

Equitable was the leader in the RILA market and Athene in the market for indexed annuities not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as securities.

Dry powder: Kevin Luebbers, a sales executive at Jackson National’s distribution arm, said in a comment on the first-half results that he believes annuity issuers have plenty of room to increase sales further.

A study from the Boston College Center for Retirement Research shows that “half of retirement investors with more than $100,000 want the income benefits that annuities provide, but only 12% buy one, due to a lack of knowledge of the products and how to purchase them,” Luebbers said.

Credit: Andrey Popov/Adobe Stock