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By 
March 17, 2022 at 01:04 PM
What You Need to Know
- Index-linked variable annuities were the growth leaders.
- MYGA sales fell.
- Traditional fixed annuity sales increased a little.
Annuity issuers and buyers favored products with the most flexible crediting rates in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Overall sales increased 8.1% between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2021, to $61 billion, according to new issuer survey data from Wink.
The overall rate of year-over-year growth was down from 10% in the third quarter of 2021.
Wink found that, as in the third quarter, variable and indexed products outperformed products with fixed rates.
Here’s a look at how sales of some of the types of annuities Wink tracks changed between the fourth quarters of 2020 and 2021:
- Index-linked variable annuity contracts: $10 billion (up 20%).
- Traditional variable annuities: $22 billion (up 16%).
- Non-variable indexed annuities: $17 billion (up 12%).
- Traditional fixed annuities: $487 million (up 2.6%).
- Multi-year guaranteed annuity contracts: $11 billion (down 15%).
Wink based the new annuity sales figures on data from 15 index-linked variable annuity issuers, 45 variable annuity issuers, 46 traditional fixed annuity issuers and 69 multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA) issuers.
