A tumbling stock market and higher interest rates are forcing consumers to buy annuities.
According to LIMRA, a trade group for the insurance industry, annuity sales in the third quarter of 2022 approached $80 billion, just beating the $79.4 billion record set in Q2. It’s an impressive 27 percent increase over last year.
As in 2008, purchasing decisions seem largely driven by concern about stock market volatility and recession possibilities.
If you recall, the S&P 500 stock index officially entered a bear market in June and has remained low since. Due to this, investors holding U.S. bonds, which typically serve as a ballast during bear markets, have lost almost 16 percent of their assets in the past year….