2026 Annuity Outlook: Safety First
January 6, 2026 by Allison Bell
Sales of individual annuities without firm, built-in value guarantees increased in the United States in 2025.
Jason Bickler, co-head of individual markets at Global Atlantic, a major annuity issuer, predicted in a recent email interview that the annuity sales winds will shift a bit toward safety in 2026.
Wink’s Moore on the Market: Jason Bickler of Global Atlantic is not wrong when he says “accumulation” is the focus of annuity sales recently.
Wink, Inc. has seen a decline in income sales of indexed annuities. The election rate for 2Q2025 was 61.2%. The election rate for the most recent quarter was nearly 10% less, at 53.2%.
But are structured annuity (RILA) sales up because agents are foregoing indexed annuities for their clients?
Anecdotally, I can say “yes.”
I’ve been getting a lot of agents that are saying, “I sold a structured annuity, and just cannot see selling another indexed annuity. Their caps are so much lower!”
(That part concerns me to some degree because the risk profile of someone purchasing an indexed annuity is so very different from someone purchasing a securities product like a structured annuity.)
My favorite part of this article?
Jason Bickler‘s quote:
“After a decade of chasing market gains, investors are shifting toward safeguarding what they’ve built, and today’s rate environment makes guaranteed income more compelling than it’s been in years,” he said. “We expect a surge in innovative income products.”
Does that mean I am going to see more innovative filings from Global Atlantic?!?
Good intel! -sjm
