Research & Reports
Summertime in the Variable Annuity Business – Not as Slow as You Think
Recently, in compiling information and data for our reports we’ve been sorting through many regulatory filings, and will continue to do so of course, but this week we’re going to pause a bit from those...
Under the Chassis – Updating our Research on New VA Contract Registrations
One of the many research activities we’ve taken upon ourselves is to monitor new variable annuity registrations, in order to be up on the latest industry priorities in terms of product development. We recently caught...
Our Summer Studies Will Involve Gathering More Data on VA Products, Features
One of our objectives for the upcoming third quarter – traditionally a time each year when variable annuity sales tend to tail off regardless of how the market is doing – will be to pore...
The Province of VA Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits – A Constantly Shifting Terrain
In the variable annuity business, it’s crucial for leading companies to have new ideas in the pipeline at all times because the living benefits arms wars are still being waged with great intensity. The way...
VA Income Benefits Are Evolving to Offer New Forms of Guaranteed Income
We believe that Guaranteed Minimum Income Benefits (GMIBs) are still formidable weapons in the variable annuity benefit arsenal, they have been around for awhile and many financial advisors still find them quite attractive. While innovation...
As Went the Market, So Went the Industry – VA Results of Public Insurers in 1Q08
Based on first quarter variable annuity sales of public insurers we track regularly – and some early estimates of how the industry fared – the first quarter of 2008 was a period where industry deposits...
Sketching Out Issues in the VA Space – in Anticipation of 1Q08 Sales
As we post this report, the insurance sector is entering earnings season and we’re looking forward to listening in on the conference calls because they always contain good nuggets of information about the variable annuity...
Observations on the Latest Variable Annuity Contracts Coming to Market
Because there has been a pretty sizable crop of new variable annuities filed this year with the SEC, in this week’s commentary we’ll take a break from discussing the living benefit arms race – since...
More Reconnaissance on the VA Arms Race – What’s Happening with GLWBs
We think most of our readers would agree that the competition in the variable annuity business within Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits (GLWBs) constitutes the largest portion of the living benefits arms race, and this year...