Ask a chief product officer: What’s driving annuity innovation today
April 22, 2026 by Dale Uthoff
Wink’s Moore on the Market: While I completely respect Group 1001‘s Chief Product Officer’s direction, the current industry trend shows annuities moving toward more complex structures, which creates a new set of challenges for annuity salespeople to navigate.
(While most annuities still offer fairly straightforward benefits, indexed annuities specifically have become infinitely complex and “expensive.”)
Want a Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit? There’s a fee for that.
Want a Guaranteed Minimum Death Benefit? There’s a fee for that.
Want a premium bonus? There’s a fee for that.
Want a rider that increases your annuity’s liquidity? There’s a fee for that.
I’ve never seen more indices, nor indexing methods, on indexed annuities, in my 26 years of doing this.
Insurance companies are introducing asset allocation models on fixed insurance products that are marketed towards seniors- who may be unfamiliar with the concept- given that their typical nest egg is only $183,651.
Combine all of this with the fact that consumers may be unaware that rates can change on these products from year to year, and we’ve got a mess on our hands.
What “innovation” do you feel is not helping the “annuity story?” -sjm
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The U.S. annuity industry has been experiencing rapid growth. LIMRA announced retail annuity sales finished 2025 at more than $460 billion – the fourth consecutive year of record sales. Read at InvestmentNews
