Research & Reports
Our Variable Annuity Industry Year In Review: 2016 Was a Trying Time
As we have done since first publishing The Soleares Report, we are devoting this last issue of December to a quick look back on the year that was in the variable annuity industry. Our view...
Variable Annuity Sales in Q3 Were Down Again, In All Likelihood
In this commentary we’ll offer up our usual thoughts from insurers’ quarterly earnings calls. This time we came away with the a feeling we’ve had for some time now: that companies are more or less...
Some Fall Reflections – on Trends in the Variable Annuity Space
In this commentary we’ll discuss current conditions in the variable annuity business, such as which products are selling the best, and touch on details from recent product filings…
VA Industry Sales Remained Weak in Q2 – And May Drop Further
Leading industry research firms released second-quarter 2016 annuity sales data not long ago, and results for variable annuities were down substantially over last year, while some fixed annuity product types did fairly well…
Casual Thoughts on the Variable Annuity Business as Q1 Winds Down
This will be a very brief commentary containing random thoughts on the variable annuity scene, as it looks to us at this point in the year. The brevity of this report is mostly due to...
A Rough Market Start – Does it Portend Anything for Annuities?
Just as we were getting back into the swing of things after the holidays, there was a sharp decline in the stock market, which prompted us to think of what the implications could be for...
On 2015: A Time of Shifting Realities For the Variable Annuity Business
Each year we provide, with our last issue of December, a quick rundown of how the variable annuity business performed so far, from our perspective, and a few forward-looking thoughts for the New Year. While...
The Deferred Income Annuity – A Product With a Hopeful Future
In this report we’ll discuss deferred income annuities (DIAs), products that, in our view, were built to provide less risky forms of guaranteed income as compared to living benefits, and to answer longstanding objections to...
Some Brief Thoughts Regarding Q3 Annuity Industry Sales
Industry research firms began reporting third quarter sales not long ago, and the numbers confirmed our earlier suspicions, that variable annuity sales would fell in the quarter, while total industry output was sustained through a...