Annuities

Clear guidance and safe-harbor relief would ease industry concerns, Goldbrum says.

Overall sales of annuities through bank holding companies rose 0.5% to $2.62 billion last year, but the results were somewhat skewed.

More women are buying income annuities to ensure they have sufficient retirement income.

The gap between advisors and clients when it comes to what each thinks are the risks in retirement is vast.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. plans to revamp its annuity lineup and target business owners as part of an initiative to develop its wealth management business.

Fixed and variable annuities sales are very sluggish, while mutual fund sales have taken off.

ING Financial Solutions is launching today a new, simplified variable annuity, called ING Select Opportunities, with much lower fees than its flashier, pre-crash offerings.

The SEC doesn’t yet require insurers to register indexed annuities, but wirehouse reps prefer it, ING CEO Ford said.

While competitors struggled in 2009, Jackson National Life Insurance Co. reported its best year for annuity sales through banks.

Premiums are down 12%, but with the cost of risk rising, life sellers should take the opportunity to prepare for a brighter future.

Financial services firms have yet to create a strong retirement income plan, Cogent finds.

More retirement think tanks are getting on board with the idea of including annuities in 401(k) plans, but so far, only a handful of large employers have this as an option.

The company increased sales by 14% last year, surpassing $1 billion for the first time in its history.

The reasons to buy long-term care insurance aren’t new. What is new, though, is who boomer clients are buying such insurance for: their parents.

Guaranteed living benefits may now be synonymous with variable annuities, but unless insurers rein in costs and restore benefits, sales may continue to slide.

Sales declined 11% from the previous quarter and 40% from a year earlier.

Whitehouse plans to tax the “non-earned” income of high earners to pay for Medicare could hurt annuity sales, claims a lobbyist for the insurance industry.

While variable annuity sales eke out a 3% gain, all other areas suffer significant declines.

A booming time for exciting variable annuity riders must give way to a new era of stabilization and rationalization.

Bank-based advisors produced an average $16,728 in December, up from just $14,712 in November.