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Research & Reports

Soleares Research, LLC is a market research and consulting firm servicing the annuity and life insurance businesses. We provide, through our website, periodic articles that cover important industry trends; we also offer clients phone or on-site consultations, executive briefings and presentations. We pride ourselves on first-class customer service and responsiveness to our clients. We aim to be an indispensable resource to the marketplace.
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VA Contract Update – Designs Moving in Specialized Directions

Judging by new variable annuities we’ve seen registered with the SEC this year, we get the impression that a good number of them were built to meet very specific needs and issues of distributors. It...

Spring Tweaking – VA Product Changes Emphasizing Income, Protection

So far this year we’re seen a number of variable annuity insurers start building in higher guaranteed annual withdrawal amounts (GAWAs) on their lifetime withdrawal riders. Some of these new schemes have been rather creative,...

The Adjustment Game – There’s No Set Formula to Tweaking VA Products

We are accustomed to seeing numerous variable annuity ideas get introduced in early spring, however lately things have become slower than usual. We attribute this to insurers being a bit tentative about taking any serious...

A Look Ahead – Question Marks for the VA Business as Q2 Begins

Because of the diminished sales of variable annuities last year, we can’t help but wonder whether the industry can eventually participate more fully in the recovery of the financial markets – or, will it continue...

Some of the Whys and Wherefores – Influencing VA Product Movements

The rate of filing in the variable annuity business has settled down a bit in recent weeks, although we figure that there are plenty of new concepts in the pipeline. Since things are a little...

VA Contract Considerations – And Assorted Notes on Other Matters

We’ve been providing frequent commentary lately about guaranteed living benefits – which we think is warranted since they are so integral to the variable annuity sales story these days – however this week we’ll focus...

Ratcheting Rates – Insurers Develop GLWBs with Adjustable Withdrawals

The stream of variable annuity-related filings moving through the SEC has been speeding up of late, and a common theme we keep noticing is that insurers are building in new forms of flexibility to their...

“Five at 65” – Enhancements of Variable Annuity Riders Are Picking Up Again

Innovation permeates the very core of the variable annuity business; in fact we’ve come to expect near-constant creativity from actuaries and product development specialists. The rate of movement may have slowed compared with years past,...

A Bit of a Disconnect? A Near-Term Outlook on VA Industry Results

When fourth quarter variable annuity sales results come out, we’re convinced they will reflect a lack of participation by the industry in the improving equity markets – much as was the case in the prior...