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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.

“Next Generation” VA Withdrawal Benefits and Shapes They Are Taking

The rate of filing activity around variable annuity Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefits (GMWBs) remains vigorous and will probably pick up as we approach the May prospectus update season. Since the beginning of the year some...

Impressions on the Variable Annuity Business in 2007 – Part II

In this report, our last of the year, we’ll conclude our two-part commentary summarizing key forces influencing the sale of variable annuities in 2007 – our main three being “features, shelf space and scale” –...

Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from December, 2006

Variable fund filings from December reflected the current emphasis in our business on asset allocation in its various forms, whether through investing in baskets of conventional mutual funds, or newer ideas like Exchange Traded Funds...

Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from September, 2006

Of the new variable funds registered in September quite a few were illustrative of the current interest in protective or non-correlative investment styles, long/short strategies or sectors like natural resources or commodities. And yet more...

Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from August, 2006

Over the month of August we saw a pickup in the rate of new variable insurance fund registrations, with eight coming out. In addition there were many adjustments done to fund platforms – albeit in...

VA Benefit Modifications and How They Might Play in Distribution Channels

Variable annuity benefit tweaking and modifying has been happening a bit less frequent lately, and we attribute this to the summer slowdown. Filing activity ought to be picking back up as we get into the...

Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from July, 2006

In composing our usual roundup of variable fund filings from the previous month, we did not see a great many new registrations in July. We identified just two, but they were fairly notable: one was...

Publicly-Traded VA Insurers Fare Better in Q2 – as Reported in Earnings Calls

We always look forward to reviewing major public insurers’ quarterly calls during earnings season, as these companies in many ways act as barometers for the health of the variable annuity business as a whole. In...

VUL Breeding: Hybrid Policies Mix Protection, Equity Exposure and Liquidity

Variable Universal Life (VUL) policies certainly have a lot going for them in terms of optionality and flexibility, with the insured being able to adjust the death benefit, the timing and level of premium payments,...