Research & Reports
Concerning Q1 Variable Annuity Sales – and Recent Product Moves
Variable annuity industry sales in the first quarter finished how we expected they would – down considerably on both a sequential and year-over-year basis. In this report we’ll take a quick look at the numbers...
We Suspect VA Industry Sales Were Probably Down Again in 1Q16
We just finished conducting our review of first quarter results of publicly-traded insurers we monitor regularly, and for all of them, variable annuity sales fell, thus we suspect the industry experienced a similar result…
More Thoughts on Recent Variable Annuity Prospectus Updates, Changes
In our view, variable annuity product filing activity is still rather slow compared to prior years, so for that reason we’ll devote this report to touching on just a few developments, some which we have...
American General Launches GLWB with Highest Daily Ratcheting
Lately we haven’t seen too many variable annuity insurers make their living benefits more generous, but American General introduced a new lifetime withdrawal benefit yesterday which is now one of the few in the industry...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from March, 2016
During March the pace of variable fund filing activity was pretty lively in our view, and among interesting developments was the introduction of a new sub-advised trust from insurer Guardian Life…
Regarding Rate Sheets – And Other Recent VA Product Moves
We are expecting variable annuity filing activity will be picking up soon as we are entering the May prospectus season, however we are unsure whether insurers will introduce many new product ideas as they are...
Free Riffing – On Current Themes in the Variable Annuity Industry
Product filing activity around the variable annuity business has been kind of slow in our opinion, at least compared to past years, so in this report we’ll do some “riffing” – offering up impromptu thoughts...
Jackson National Files New Variable Annuity for Fee-Based Advisors
This week we’ll discuss a new variable annuity filed by Jackson National designed to be sold through fee-based advisors, which may be an indication that new Department of Labor fiduciary rules – set to come...
Puzzling Out Meanings Within Recent VA Contract and Rider Filings
In this commentary we’ll discuss some variable annuity product filings with the SEC from recent weeks that we found interesting, some of which, we’ll admit, have elements we are not yet totally clear on…
