Annuities Rising in Popularity
Rising interest rates are making annuities more attractive to investors, so much so that annuity sales are smashing records set in 2008 during the Great Recession. Annuities, which can provide retirement income, are also becoming an option for workers whose employers aren’t providing pensions.
Total U.S. annuity sales increased 22% to $77.5 billion in the second quarter of 2022, according to preliminary survey results from LIMRA, a financial services trade association. These numbers represent the highest quarterly sales since LIMRA began tracking annuity sales in 2014 — $9 billion above the previous record in the fourth quarter of 2008.
While they may be enjoying a new surge of popularity, the concept of annuities dates back to early Rome, when citizens would make a lump-sum payment to a contract called an annua in exchange for income payments received once a year for the rest of their lives.
Modern-day annuities are more complicated than that, even though they’ve kept
