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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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A Few Thoughts on VA Spinoffs – and Notable Product News

For more than a decade, the U.S. variable annuity business has been in de-risking mode, and this process has taken many forms. Early on, much of the activity involved product redesign. The most recent manifestations...

An Update on Variable Managed-Volatility Portfolios Through 2Q21

This spreadsheet updates our coverage of variable insurance volatility-managed portfolios for the second quarter of 2021. By our count, as of June 30 we counted 200 such portfolios in operation, containing over $288 billion in...

Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from August, 2021

We saw a number of interesting variable fund registrations last month – including a new series of defined outcome portfolios – along with a healthy amount of changes made to insurers’ investment platforms. We’ll discuss...

Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from July, 2021

After a huge pickup in variable fund registrations during the prior month, in July, filing activity slowed to more normal seasonal levels. The few new offerings were in asset classes and investment styles that are...

An Update on Variable Managed-Volatility Portfolios Through 1Q21

This spreadsheet commences our coverage of variable insurance volatility-managed portfolios for 2021. By our count, at the end of the fourth quarter there were 203 such portfolios in operation, containing over $284 billion in assets…

Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from May, 2021

This report contains our regular coverage of noteworthy variable insurance fund filings from the prior month, a period where we saw an uptick in new registrations, which, not surprisingly, were of in-favor fund categories and...

Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from April, 2021

Variable insurance fund filing activity last month was moderate, in our view, but typical of the time of year, because new funds tend to be registered by February at the latest, in order to be...

Q1 Earnings Review – Annuity Sales Improved For Some Insurers

For most of the public insurers we regularly track, annuity gross sales improved in the first quarter, building on momentum the industry generated over the latter part of 2020. Net flows for several carriers were...

Noteworthy VA Benefit Rate Sheet Updates, Through Early May

At present, variable annuity insurers who want to be at the top of the sales leaderboard must pull off a bit of a balancing act in our view: they must sell guaranteed living benefits (GLBs)...