Lincoln Financial sold so many individual annuities in the second quarter that Suneet Kamath, a securities analyst with Jefferies, wondered whether the annuity market is all right.
The life and annuity issuer increased individual annuity sales to $3.8 billion in the second quarter, up 48% from the total for the second quarter of 2022.
"How sustainable is that?" Kamath asked Thursday, during a conference call with Lincoln executives. "Are you seeing any irrational behavior?"
Ellen Cooper, Lincoln's CEO, pointed to the big increase in the number of baby boomers turning 65 this year as one driver. "You really have a need for deferred savings and for retirement planning," she said.
Although the annuity market is competitive, "we are, from what we can see, largely rational," she added.
Lincoln's sales numbers came out Wednesday, just two days after Ameriprise reported a 45% year-over-year increase in its variable annuity sales.
Individual annuity sales increased 23% at Equitable, 68% at Corebridge Financial and 83% at Prudential Financial.
What it means: Clients are buying a lot of annuities.
