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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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The Latest News on Variable Annuities in Defined Contribution Plans

In this commentary we’re going to quickly give our perspective on news and developments related to variable annuities and defined contribution (DC) plans, especially 401(k)s, since many insurers perceive these programs to be a possible...

More of a Bargain: Movements in VA Contract Design and Structure

If there’s any one trend in variable annuity design we see building momentum, it’s that of insurers offering contracts with lower-than-average costs, usually combined with a relatively modest number of sub-accounts and optional benefits. Since...

Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from March, 2007

Maybe we’ve said this all too often, but a pervasive theme in variable funds of late has been that of asset allocation, and in March this held true again, as there were a number of...

Beyond Product – Insurers Work to Become Retirement Planners, Aggregators

There’s little doubt that success in the variable annuity marketplace over the years has been largely dictated by product and distribution strength, competition depending on what’s currently in favor, whether it be the latest VA...

Continuing the Discussion: VA Industry Issues Informing Product Designs

With this commentary we’ll follow up on our previous report by reflecting on some important themes in the variable annuity industry and how they are intimately connected to the products, features and funds being marketed...

“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...

Public Insurers’ Q4 VA Results Point to Overall Improvement for the Industry

For the fourth quarter of 2006 variable annuity sales grew for all the publicly-traded insurers we track, reflecting the experience of the industry as a whole, which we hear rebounded from the lackluster sales of...

Dueling GMIBs – The Arms Race Persists on Base Growth, Special Provisions

We’re constantly maintaining that the importance of living benefits to the variable annuity business cannot be overstated. Although most of the market right now is concentrated on lifetime withdrawal benefits, there’s been resurgence in competition...

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” –...