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Susan Neely

Life Health > Annuities

Americans With Annuities Want More Annuities: Survey

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What You Need to Know

  • Income annuities are especially popular with survey participants with an annual income of over $100,000.
  • People who already have a guaranteed source of retirement income want more.
  • The survey, which found overwhelming popularity of guaranteed income products, did not describe the products as annuities.

Americans who already own annuities, or other products that provide a guaranteed source of lifetime income, love the idea of buying more annuities.

The American Council of Life Insurers came up with data on how familiarity with annuities breeds love for annuities when it sponsored a recent survey of 1,003 U.S. retirement savers ages 45 through 65.

About 26% of the survey participants said they already owned annuities, and 86% of the survey participants who owned annuities said they were somewhat or very interested in buying more.

Roughly 73% of all of the participants, 76% of the participants with pension plans and 67% of the participants without annuities said they wanted annuities.

What It Means

Consumers who already have a guaranteed source of retirement income might be better annuity prospects than consumers who have no guaranteed source of retirement income other than Social Security.

The Survey

The ACLI is a Washington-based group for life insurers.

When it conducted the survey, it avoided triggering any hostility toward the term “annuity” by referring to an annuity as a “guaranteed lifetime income product that pays out like a pension by providing periodic payments during retirement.”

The Backdrop

The ACLI sponsored the survey at a time when prices are rising and regulators in Washington and state capitals are talking about whether to impose annuity sales standards that would limit use of traditional commission-based sales rep compensation arrangements.

Inflation was a worry for 85% of the survey participants, and about 58% of the participants said they would work with financial professionals on retirement planning or might do so. Only 15% said they preferred to work with retirement planners with a $100,000 investment minimum.

ACLI President Susan Neely said the survey results show that life insurers, and the financial professionals who work with them, are offering products that can fit with what consumers are thinking about.

“Retirement savers are clearly concerned about inflation and the overall economy,” Neely said.

More Factors

The ACLI did not break out results by every possible subgroup, and it’s possible that some apparent annuity appetite gaps would disappear if analysts adjusted the results for factors such as gender and occupation category.

But here’s how the percentage of participants who were very or somewhat interested in buying annuities varied by specified factors, based on the survey results that were published:

Political affiliation: 78% for Democrats, 72% for Republicans and 67% for independents.

Ethnicity: 72% for white participants, 82% for Black participants and 87% for Hispanic participants.

Annual income: 78% for participants with income over $100,000, 74% for participants with income from $50,000 to $100,000, and 77% for participants with income under $50,000.

Pictured: Susan Neely (Photo: ACLI)


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