Annuity sellers who want to get past consumer skepticism have to be careful to acknowledge the limits of their knowledge, a polling firm says.
Maslansky Luntz + Partners, Alexandria, Va., has presented that conclusion on an analysis of results from a focus group session with 24 retirees and pre-retirees conducted in Chicago during the annual meeting of the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI), Washington.
Maslansky Luntz is a nonpartisan offshoot of a firm founded by Frank Luntz, the pollster who helped Republicans take control of the House in 1994.
All of the IRI meeting focus group participants were ages 50 to 74 and had $250,000 to $2 million in investable assets excluding the value of their homes.
The pollsters included a mix of Republicans and Democrats.
The session confirmed the principle that consumers tend to dislike “annuities” but like what annuities offer to do for investors.