subscriber-login-icon
Subscriber Login

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.

GMABs and More – Currents of Activity in VA Prospectus Updates

Last week we saw a surge in SEC filings related to variable annuities – many of them May 1 prospectus updates – and in our next few reports we’ll comment on interesting things we found...

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...

“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,...

Talking Product – Reflecting On Changes, Innovation in the VA Business

There remains a near-constant flow of changes and adjustments being made to products in the variable annuity space, due to a mix of competitive and risk-based concerns, and we don’t see any let-up to this...

VA Rider Design Trends – GLWBs That Stay Rich, But Address Risk Issues

In this commentary we will be discussing some of the newer variable annuity Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits (GLWBs) that insurers have been filing, many of these riders offering robust base growth rates, yet also incorporating...

Checking Up on Trends in Variable Annuity GMIBs – Changing, Mixing, Matching

On the variable annuity scene, insurers are still changing their guaranteed living benefits with great alacrity in response to market conditions, albeit less aggressively than in the past, and while most of this movement is...