RJ and Makay

For the second consecutive year, indexed annuities had record sales that reached $32.1 billion for all of 2010, says financial services research and consulting firm LIMRA. The increase was 7% more than in 2009, reports LIMRA, which tracks 96% of annuity sales.

In the fourth quarter of last year, indexed annuity sales improved 17% to $8.2 billion. Furthermore, indexed annuities accounted for 43% of fixed annuity sales in the fourth quarter — the first time ever that indexed annuities outperformed fixed-rate deferred annuities products, which generated 40% of fixed annuity sales in the fourth quarter.