Sales down in fixed arena

Fixed annuities are the staples of many senior advisors' offerings. And while many advisors are having great success with the products, overall sales were down in 2006, according to Beacon Research, which compiles fixed annuity sales numbers on a quarterly basis.

The estimated $16.5 billion in sales for the fourth quarter of 2006 were 1.1 percent below the
same quarter in 2005 and 15.7 percent below the third quarter of 2006. For the year, estimated fixed annuity sales were 3.3 percent less than 2005, coming in at $70.9 billion. According to

Beacon's "Fixed Annuity Premium Study," 2006 sales by product type were as follows:

• Book value: $30.2 billion
• Indexed: $25 billion
• Market value-adjusted: $9.6 billion
• Immediate: $6.1 billion

Estimates for all types were down for 2006, except MVAs, which grew by 71 percent.