Annuity sales remain near record highs as investors prioritize stability. RILAs, with upside potential and downside limits, surged 21% year over year in Q1 2025.
“I think anytime you see more volatility in the market, you’re going to see an uptick in annuities,” says Mark Harper, director of case planning at Triad Partners, a Kansas-based field marketing organization. “Anytime the markets go up and down and clients are concerned, worried, an annuity is a natural landing spot where we have downside protection and can still participate in some of the upside growth.”
Total US annuity sales reached $105 billion in Q1 2025, 1% below the record set in the first quarter of 2024, according to LIMRA. March of this year was the second-highest annuity sales month ever recorded by LIMRA, which found 2022, 2023, and 2024 to be three straight years of record-high annual annuity sales, including a 13% jump from 2023 to 2024.