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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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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...

Growing Focus on Annuity Exchanges – Fines are Levied, Regulations Updated

Given that tax-free 1035 exchanges are widely acknowledged to be a large portion of annuity sales, we think it’s important for companies working in the marketplace to monitor how these exchanges are being perceived and...

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...

Insurers Fine-Tune Their VA Living Benefit Guarantees – Continued

This week we’re going to continue on the theme of our previous commentary by noting more adjustments insurers are making to their variable annuity living benefits, fees and related provisions…

Insurers Adjust VA Living Benefits for Competitive Advantage, Protection

Based on new filings we’re seeing, the variable annuity living benefit “arms race” has not subsided but rather continues in 2007 with richer guarantees coming out, however we must add that at the same time,...

A Simpler Story – Insurers Move to Streamline VA Sub-Accounts, Features

In getting started with the New Year, we’ll comment on a growing tendency for insurers to trim the number of sub-account options and features on their variable annuities in order to make them simpler for...

Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from November, 2006

We continue to see variable insurers add funds with sophisticated quantitative and non-correlative investment methods, and one of these cropped up in November, however during that month most activity centered on tweaking and consolidating investment...

Assessing Windows of Opportunity for Variable Annuities in Qualified Plans

One topic we plan to tune into regularly in our reports is the use of variable annuities in qualified plans, a practice that has its critics, yet quite a few industry observers think this section...