RJ and Makay

Thanks to surging equities and greater demand for guaranteed income riders, variable annuity (VA) sales jumped 10% last year to $140.5 billion — their highest level in two years. Annuity sales dropped 7% overall last year, though, mainly because of a weak market for fixed annuities, reports financial services research and consulting firm LIMRA.

“We attribute the growth [in VA sales] to increased confidence in the VA market by consumers, advisors, and the companies themselves,” says Joseph Montminy, assistant vice president of annuity research at LIMRA. “We saw growth in almost two-thirds of the VA industry in 2010.”