LIMRA recently announced the top 20 annuity companies for 2009. Quarterly sales for variable annuities are slowly making their way back up; sales were down only 18 percent for the year, despite a 26 percent decline in the first six months of 2009.
Total individual sales fell 11 percent in 2009 to nearly $235 billion. Sales fell only 2 percent from the third quarter; however, when compared to the fourth quarter of 2008, sales were down 22 percent.