Annuity Sales on the Rise, With Andrew Simonelli, Insured Retirement Institute

A study by the Insured Retirement Institute shows that annuity sales are on the rise, which is good news.  Sales across the board are on the rise, says Andrew Simonelli, the Director of Communications of the Insured Retirement Institute.

Fixed annuities rose 5% from the third quarter of 2013 and closed out the quarter with an almost 17% increase.  All fixed annuities found an increase in sales in 2013 and a large part of that was indexed and income annuities, says Simonelli.  For income annuities, sales have never been higher and for the first time, they were above 3 billion and for fixed annuities, sales jumped 17% from quarter three.

Baby boomers are looking for more certainty, given the fact that they're living longer these days than previous generations.  Baby boomers are "starting to wrap their warms around the concept of needing guaranteed income each month," Simonelli says and that this "really bodes well for the annuity industry."  He adds that when comparing products in the market, even against low-interest rate CD's from a bank, annuities still stand out.

Andrew Simonelli is the Director of Communications of the Insured Retirement Institute.  For more information on the annuity study, click here.  He spoke with Retirement News Today, providing online, on-demand retirement news video content.  Retirement News Today is a featured network of Sequence Media Group.

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Franklin Templeton Retirement Survey 2014

Franklin Templeton Investments announced the findings of its 2014 Retirement Income Strategies and Expectations (RISE) Survey in the United States. The annual survey, which polled 2,011 Americans ages 18 and over, found that the concept of retirement is laden with contradictions in both attitude and preparedness.

Among those not yet retired, the survey found that 92 percent of individuals anticipate their retirement expenses to be similar to or less than pre-retirement spending. Interestingly, more than a third of pre-retirees (39 percent) have not yet started saving for retirement.

“Americans have long struggled with preparing for the realities of retirement,” said Michael Doshier, vice president of Retirement Marketing for Franklin Templeton Investments. “The survey uncovered several contradictions related to the degree of understanding and often divergent approaches to retirement.”

Read the survey