Close Close
Sign In
Newsletters
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
Podcast Center Video Center Webcasts Resource Center Events
About ThinkAdvisor Contact Us Advertise With Us Asset & Logo Licensing Sitemap Terms of Service Privacy Policy Copyright © 2024 ALM Global, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
ThinkAdvisor
Sheryl Moore (Photo: Wink)

Life Health > Annuities

MYGA Frenzy Pushes Annuity Sales Higher in Q1: Wink

By Allison Bell

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

Investors’ fears of volatility and the new, higher interest rate environment are continuing to push sales of multi-year guaranteed annuities (MYGAs) higher.

Sales of individual MYGA contracts climbed 173% between the first quarter of 2022 and the latest quarter, to $40 billion, after rising 217% in the previous quarter, according to new issuer survey data from Wink.

The MYGA boom helped produce a 42% overall increase in total sales of the kinds of individual deferred annuities that Wink tracks, in spite of a 22% decrease in sales of variable annuities.

A MYGA contract is an annuity that guarantees payment of a fixed interest rate for a period longer than one year.

What It Means

First-quarter annuity sales figures show that economic turmoil and new benefits obligation accounting rules have not caused a noticeable drop in insurers’ ability to offer your clients annuities with attractive rate guarantees.

Wink

Wink is a Des Moines, Iowa-based firm that has been publishing quarterly annuity sales data since 1997.

The latest report includes data from 104 insurers.

The firm tracks traditional fixed annuities, MYGA contracts and non-variable indexed annuities and classifies them as fixed annuities.

The firm also tracks registered index-linked annuities, or RILAs, and traditional variable annuities, and it classifies those products as variable annuities.

Moore’s View

Sheryl Moore, Wink’s CEO, said non-variable annuities are paying higher rates than bank certificates of deposit can offer.

“As long as CD rates remain so low relative to annuity rates, you can count on indexed and MYGA annuity sales being high,” Moore said.

The Data

Here’s a look at how sales of the annuities Wink tracks changed between the first quarter of 2022 and the latest quarter:

Annuity Type Q1 2023 Sales Change From Q1 2022
..MYGA.. ..$40 billion.. ..+173%..
..Non-variable indexed.. ..$23 billion.. ..+36%..
..RILA.. ..$9.7 billion.. ..+2.1%..
..Traditional fixed.. ..$383 million.. ..-17%..
..Traditional variable.. ..$12 billion.. ..-34%..
..TOTAL.. ..$85 billion.. ..+42%..

Sheryl Moore (Photo: Wink)

Allison Bell

Think_Allison

NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.