Annuity Issuers Still Struggling to Protect Asset Share: SIFMA

By Allison Bell

News December 16, 2024 at 03:59 PM

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U.S. sales of annuities have been strong, but life insurers are just barely maintaining their share of retirement assets, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

The amount of annuity reserves held by life insurers increased 8.9% between 2022 and 2023, to $4.2 trillion, but that was a little below the 9% growth rate for all retirement assets, SIFMA reports in a compilation of federal government asset data.

Private-sector employers increased the amount of assets in their defined benefit pension plans and defined contribution plans 10.3%, to $13 trillion.

Individual retirement account asset managers, including banks and mutual fund companies, pushed their assets up 13.4%, to $13.6 trillion.

The result. Annuities continued to have a 9.3% share of retirement assets in 2023. That was unchanged from their share in 2022, in spite of reports of record annuity sales and solid investment performance.

Employer plan assets increased to 28.9%, from 28.5%, and IRA assets climbed to 30.3%, from 29.1%.

SIFMA found something similar happening inside IRAs.

The amount of IRA assets allocated to annuities increased 9.6%, to $614 billion, but, because of even stronger sales and investment performance at mutual funds and other types of investments, the share of IRA assets held inside annuities fell to 4.5%, from 4.7% the year before.

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