Annuity News

Bear Funds Struggle to Keep-up Over Time

Bear Funds or mutual funds that are intended to prosper during down markets have actually performed poorly over the past decade. One would think that the past decade would have provided the perfect environment for these types of investment vehicles. As reported in Bloomberg, though, a Pimco bear market mutual fund run by Bill Gross is the only fund of its type to beat U.S. stocks over the past five years. According the the Bloomberg article: "Bear funds trailed equities over five and 10 years,...

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Cracks Starting to Show in 401(k) Plans

A recent story in The Wall Street Journal provides a sobering and objective assessment of the current state of retirement savings in the United States. The average worker with a 401(k) account is facing drastic shortfalls in the amount of savings required to support retirement spending levels that are comparable to pre-retirement income levels. The Journal story finds that the median household age 60-62 with a 401(k) account has less than one quarter of what is needed in the account to maintain...

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China's Annuity Market Developing Slowly

Despite the demographic challenges associated with an ageing society, individual annuities are non-existent in China. Some individuals in China do have access to what is referred to as an enterprise annuity . Enterprise annuities are a form of supplemental pension plan that is supported by the Chinese government. Enterprise annuities were enabled through legislation that went into effect in May of 2004. In order to offer enterprise annuities to employees, Chinese employers are required to...

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First Longevity Swap for Active Pension Plan Members Enabled by JP Morgan

JP Morgan recently assumed 70 million pounds of longevity risk through a longevity swap that covers the lives of active members of a UK-based defined benefit pension plan . This is the first longevity swap that covers active pension plan participants. Previous deals have focused on retired pension plan members. The longevity swap is based on JP Morgan's LifeMetrics longevity index and it has a 10 year term. The index-based swap is reportedly a better vehicle for dealing with active pension plan...

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Annuity Business Drives Earnings Momentum at MetLife and Prudential

Life insurance companies MetLife and Prudential Financial both reported quarterly earnings that exceeded analysts' estimates. MetLife reported record variable annuity sales and a sharp rise in its retirement product fees. Prudential also reported strength in its annuity business. While annuity sales were strong at both companies, higher hedging costs had an adverse impact on the reported earnings of MetLife and Prudential. Source: Reuters Full Story

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Fidelity Variable Annuity Offering Reaches $1 Billion in Sales in First Year

Fidelity Investments recently announced that it reached $1 billion in sales with its MetLife Growth and Guaranteed Income ("MGGI") variable annuity product offering. The MetLife Growth and Guaranteed Income product has only been available since November 2009. The MGGI product is manufactured by MetLife and distributed exclusively by Fidelity. The MGGI product is a deferred variable annuity with a living benefit rider. The living benefit rider is a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit ( GLWB...

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Genworth is Exiting the Variable Annuity Market

Genworth Financial is discontinuing sales of its variable annuity products. The company plans to stop the sale of any new variable annuity products by the end of the first quarter of 2011. Genworth has had an active presence in the variable annuity market as a top 20 U.S. company with $2.3 billion in sales in 2008. Genworth's exit leaves the U.S. variable annuity market increasingly concentrated with 5 insurance companies controlling 55 percent of the market. Genworth's decisions comes at a...

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Variable Annuity Sales in U.S. Could Reach $500 Billion per Year by 2018

A 2008 sigma study from Swiss Re suggests that U.S. variable annuity sales could reach $400 - $500 billion per year by 2018. These are gross sales projections that include exchanges of existing products. Annuity exchanges are typically a significant portion of overall or gross sales. This 2008 projection was based on compound annual growth projections of 7-9 percent. Also mentioned was the fact that variable annuity assets in Japan grew at an astounding rate between 2003 and 2008--increasing at...

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Low Interest Rates Affecting Insurance Companies

The ultra-low interest rates that exist at the moment are affecting insurance company profitability and operations. On the profitability side, current policy premiums must be reinvested into bonds that have low yields and are fully priced. Investment income and underwriting profitability (which is often rare) are the main components of insurance company profitability. As large fixed income investors, insurance companies are challenged in the current interest rate environment. On the operations...

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Variable Annuity Sales Total $34 Billion During Third Quarter of 2010

Variable annuity sales in the United States increased 9.7 percent to total $34 billion during the third quarter of 2010. Variable annuity revenue figures continue to be concentrated among a handful of leading companies: Prudential Financial: $15.5 billion year to date. MetLife : $13.2 billion year to date. Jackson National Life: $10.47 billion year to date. TIAA-CREF : $10.42 billion year to date. Lincoln Financial : $6.6 billion. The total amount of variable annuity sales in the first 9 months...

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