Annuities continue their hot hand overall, mostly growing over last year in sales as well as from the first to second quarter of 2021, according to the Insured Retirement Institute, an association for the retirement income industry.
Using data from Beacon Annuity Solutions and Morningstar, the IRI reported that overall annuities sales through the second quarter of 2021 rose 17.3% over the same period in 2020, and were up 6% over the first quarter of 2021, but up 27.9% over Q2 2020.
The difference in performance was in the type of annuities that did well. Total fixed annuity sales rose 12.1% to $30.8 billion in the second quarter or 2021, compared with $27.5 billion in the first quarter of 2021, and were up 16.2% over Q2 2020. Through the first two quarters, all fixed annuities were up 7.8% over the same period last year.
And though variable annuities were up 28.5% through the second quarter vs. 2020, sales between first and second quarters of 2021 were 0.2%, almost flat. That said, they were up 43.1% over second-quarter sales in 2020.
Within variable annuities, the big story was registered index-linked annuities (RILAs), which are structured variable products that use index options to provide both upside potential and downside protection.
They rose 11.2% in sales to $10.2 billion vs. the first quarter of 2021. Through the first two quarters, RILA sales were up 107.8% vs. the same period last year, while non-RILA variable annuities rose about 8% during that period.
