Annuities Are Not Bought, They're Sold

By Regarded Solutions:It has often been debated by countless investors and financial planners, as to the unique benefits that annuity insurance products have over dividend income seeking equity investors.As you know, I dislike annuity insurance products for some very basic reasons. I would like to compare annuities to dividend equity investing in this article, so regular people can draw their own conclusions as to how they feel about each. My Opinions Of Annuities

Life Insurers Profit as Retirees Fear Outliving Cash by Alexis Leondis

By Trefis: According to the recent U.S. individual annuity sales figures published by Limra, MetLife (NYSE:MET) became the largest seller of variable annuities in the first half of the year, replacing Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) with sales of nearly $12.6 billion.[1]

By Trefis: Prudential Financial (PRU) is one of the leading provider of retirement solutions in the U.S. The company earns more than 40% of its revenues from the division.

I have two customers who grew from front room startup to £23m and £15m sales respectively, all online, and both using an ecommerce solution from my company SellerDeck. You might think I would be proud of these guys, but I’m not. Both were focused on competing on price, and while one company was sold for a pittance (after they had moved from our platform, and after sales had fallen off a cliff), I have just learnt that the other is insolvent.

By Intelligent Speculator: I recently spent an entire evening talking to a good friend of mine about annuities. Why? Because his father was considering buying one, as he has just retired, and while he has a decent amount of savings, the idea of having a cash flow for life is certainly appealing. He is far from the only one. Annuities have been gaining popularity very quickly in recent years, and in many ways, they can be compared to dividend portfolios, although they do also have important differences.