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Retirement Planning > Retirement Investing > Annuity Investing

Who's not selling FIAs — and why not

By Jamie E. Green, Warren S. Hersch, Emily Holbrook

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Despite fixed indexed annuity sales growth over the past two decades and the product’s popularity among consumers, some advisors are still shunning the product. In fact, though they are actively selling other types of annuities, 30 percent of respondents have not sold an FIA in the past year. Non-sellers are more likely to be selling at lower production levels (less than $250,000 in new annuity premium) and have less than 10 years in the industry, suggesting experience may be a factor.

Reasons for not selling FIAs vary, with 32 percent of respondents stating that they recommend other financial instruments, followed by about a quarter (24 percent) responding that FIAs are not a good fit for their clients. Investment-oriented advisors are much more likely to state that they recommend other financial instruments compared with their insurance-oriented counterparts (65 percent vs. 24 percent, respectively). Only 7 percent of investment-oriented advisors state they are not permitted to sell the product.

Though only 17 percent of non-sellers said they haven’t sold an FIA in the past 12 months because they don’t know enough about the product, more than half (53 percent) of those who haven’t sold an FIA said they would benefit from additional training on the product (compared with 74 percent of active FIA sellers). Advisors who have not sold an FIA in the past year are more likely to want training in how to recognize when an FIA is appropriate for clients than active FIA sellers.

When asked whether they are likely to sell an FIA within the next year, 33 percent of respondents who haven’t sold an FIA stated that they are very or somewhat likely to do so, while 55 percent said they are very or somewhat unlikely to sell an FIA. Only 12 percent of non-FIA-selling respondents are unsure.  

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