Cogent research recently released study results in their Advisor Brandscape 2012 report. They polled close to 2,000 financial advisors, all of whom maintain assets under management of at least $5 million. This information comes from Financial Advisor magazine’s “Variable Annuity Demand To Stay Strong, Says Survey.” Even though there has been volatility in the variable annuities marketplace, the advisors don’t anticipate any drop in demand. They plan to continue strong sales of variable annuities and expect consumer demand to remain strong as well. Of those advisors polled, 77% plan to maintain their sales of variable annuities. Eleven percent of their assets under management will be allocated to variable annuity products.
Advisor investment momentum is a term used to describe advisors’ plans to either increase or decrease the amount that they use existing providers over the next year. Cogent looked at the top 15 variable annuity providers in measuring this type of momentum. Both Prudential and Jackson National had increasing momentum among variable annuity sellers. Jackson National increased their penetration of variable annuity sellers by 12% and Prudential had an increase of 7%, in addition to their momentum increases. MetLife, Transamerica, and RiverSource also increased their penetration with those who use variable annuities. Prudential is working more with regional advisors, RiverSource more with independent advisors, and Jackson National more in the national wirehouse channel. More information on this annuity study can be found here from Cogent Research.
