Annuities

Last year, total annuity sales through banks declined 25% from the prior year, which itself was down 18% from the year before that, according to Kehrer-LIMRA. Yet newly release data from the Michael White-ABIA Bank Annuity Fee Income Report shows that income from annuities was down just 1.8%.

Early indications are that March will follow suit, according to Kehrer-LIMRA.

"Recent reports describe 2010 as the worst year for bank-sold annuities in the past decade, so the 4th quarter decline in the BHC Annuity Index comes as little surprise,” said Andrew Singer, the editor of the index.

Fixed and variable annuities sold in through banks each changed course, the former rising and the latter falling in January, according to the Kehrer-Jackson Monthly Bank Annuity Sales Survey.

Continued poor rate spreads between CDs and annuity yields pushed bank-sold annuity sales last year to their lowest level since 2000 and off more than 25% from what was widely viewed as a lackluster 2009.

The Lansing, Mich.-based company just launched an online portfolio construction tool—aptly named the Portfolio Construction Tool—that helps advisers assemble portfolios customized to their clients.

Bank sales of total annuities regressed slightly in January, according to the latest Kehrer-Jackson Monthly Bank Annuity Sales Survey, but overall investor interest still remains much higher for both than it was at this time last year.

Fixed and variable annuities each changed course, the former rising and the latter falling in January of this year, according to the Kehrer-Jackson Monthly Bank Annuity Sales Survey.

Variable annuities with guaranteed living benefit riders surged up 78% in the past two years to more than $521 billion in the fourth quarter of this year, according to a new LIMRA report charting the sales prowess of more than 95% of the variable annuity sector.

Fixed indexed and income annuity sales shook off a lackluster to start to the year to finish 2010 with some much-needed momentum, according to Beacon Research's latest research.

Sales rose 18% in the fourth quarter to $37.6 billion.

Advisor sales productivity reached $228,684 in 2010, up from $216,738 in 2009, according to Kehrer-LIMRA’s founder Ken Kehrer and chief operating officer Scott Stathis, at the 2011 Bank Insurance and Secruities conference in Hollywood, Fla. Hiring also is up.

LIMRA released a list of its top 20 writers of overall total annuities, variable annuities and fixed annuities for 2010.

While the middle class is usually cited as the prime beneficiary whenever Congress ratchets up tax reform rhetoric, talk of possibly eliminating the deferral of taxes on income generated from annuities has financial advisors and their middle-class clients on edge.

Annuities sold through banks hit a rough patch last year, but 2011 looks brighter, as interest rates begin to rise and the Dow Jones Industrial Average continues to improve.

Worried about high fees and complicated features? Here's a better approach to talking with clients about variable annuities.

Vanilla as they may be, annuities still represent the lifeblood of many investors' portfolios because they deliver a steady, predictable income throughout retirement.

Financial advisors at U.S. banks raked in an average of $27,809 in commission and fees in December, up modestly from an average of $27,418 in November thanks mainly to widening spreads between fixed annuities and certificate of deposit rates.

The platform, which offers products from Axa, Allianz, Lincoln Financial, Prudential and Sun Life, enables discretionary management of variable annuity assets.

Annuities sold through banks hit a rough patch last year, but 2011 looks brighter as interest rates begin to rise and the Dow Jones Industrial Average continues to improve.