Retirement News & Updates
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Annuity Sales Just Hit an All-Time Record
Total U.S. annuity sales reached $123.9 billion in the second quarter of 2026 — a new all-time quarterly record and the 11th consecutive quarter above $100 billion. Sales rose 4% year over year, with year-to-date totals of $231.3 billion setting a new first-half record as well. The quarter was driven by a convergence of forces: global tensions, market volatility, and rising interest rates that pushed demand across nearly every product category simultaneously. Registered index-linked annuities set their own quarterly record at $23.3 billion. Fixed-rate deferred annuities surged 26% from the first quarter as crediting rates climbed. Income annuities — the most direct expression of guaranteed lifetime income demand — also reached a record, with single premium immediate annuity sales hitting $4.0 billion. The breadth of the growth is significant: this was not a single-product story. It was a market-wide shift toward protection, income, and certainty at a moment when the economic environment made all three feel more urgent than ever.
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Retirees Have the Savings. They Just Won’t Spend It.
Prudential Financial’s 2026 Retirement Pulse survey, conducted in late July and early August among a nationally representative sample, reveals a retirement challenge that has received far less attention than the savings gap: most retirees don’t feel free to spend what they’ve accumulated. Eighty-six percent of respondents say they don’t feel entirely free to spend their savings on things they enjoy. Only 16% have a withdrawal strategy. Two-thirds say they would choose a guaranteed monthly check for life over a lump sum. And those who have or expect to use a pension, annuity, or guaranteed income in retirement are 43% more likely to feel they have permission to enjoy their savings. The survey identifies this as the “license to spend” problem — a psychological barrier rooted in the fear of running out that keeps retirees from using what they worked decades to build. Guaranteed income, the research finds, is the most direct solution — not because it changes the math, but because it changes the mindset.
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What Annuity Owners Actually Experience in Retirement
A new survey conducted by BlackRock and Greenwald Research asked more than 1,000 annuity owners aged 60 and older what guaranteed lifetime income actually does for them in retirement. The results are striking: 97% say their annuity helps them worry less about running out of money. 93% say it helps them worry less about day-to-day expenses. 88% say it eases worry about a stock market downturn. And 85% of retired Baby Boomers say lifetime income made a bigger difference in retirement than they expected. Beyond financial security, the research surfaces a dimension rarely discussed in retirement planning conversations: annuities reduce vulnerability to financial fraud. 84% of annuity owners say their annuity makes them less susceptible to financial exploitation and poor financial decisions as they age — a protection that becomes increasingly important as cognitive capacity can change with time. The survey also finds that 88% of annuity owners believe every retiree’s portfolio should include at least some guaranteed lifetime income, and 89% of retirees say they wish they had been given access to guaranteed income through their workplace plan.
Annuity Sales Just Hit an All-Time Record
Total U.S. annuity sales reached $123.9 billion in the second quarter of 2026 — a new all-time quarterly record and the 11th consecutive quarter above $100 billion. Sales rose 4% year over year, with year-to-date totals of $231.3 billion setting a new first-half record as well. The quarter was driven by a convergence of forces: global tensions, market volatility, and rising interest rates that pushed demand across nearly every product category simultaneously. Registered index-linked annuities set their own quarterly record at $23.3 billion. Fixed-rate deferred annuities surged 26% from the first quarter as crediting rates climbed. Income annuities — the most direct expression of guaranteed lifetime income demand — also reached a record, with single premium immediate annuity sales hitting $4.0 billion. The breadth of the growth is significant: this was not a single-product story. It was a market-wide shift toward protection, income, and certainty at a moment when the economic environment made all three feel more urgent than ever.
Retirees Have the Savings. They Just Won’t Spend It.
Prudential Financial’s 2026 Retirement Pulse survey, conducted in late July and early August among a nationally representative sample, reveals a retirement challenge that has received far less attention than the savings gap: most retirees don’t feel free to spend what they’ve accumulated. Eighty-six percent of respondents say they don’t feel entirely free to spend their savings on things they enjoy. Only 16% have a withdrawal strategy. Two-thirds say they would choose a guaranteed monthly check for life over a lump sum. And those who have or expect to use a pension, annuity, or guaranteed income in retirement are 43% more likely to feel they have permission to enjoy their savings. The survey identifies this as the “license to spend” problem — a psychological barrier rooted in the fear of running out that keeps retirees from using what they worked decades to build. Guaranteed income, the research finds, is the most direct solution — not because it changes the math, but because it changes the mindset.
What Annuity Owners Actually Experience in Retirement
A new survey conducted by BlackRock and Greenwald Research asked more than 1,000 annuity owners aged 60 and older what guaranteed lifetime income actually does for them in retirement. The results are striking: 97% say their annuity helps them worry less about running out of money. 93% say it helps them worry less about day-to-day expenses. 88% say it eases worry about a stock market downturn. And 85% of retired Baby Boomers say lifetime income made a bigger difference in retirement than they expected. Beyond financial security, the research surfaces a dimension rarely discussed in retirement planning conversations: annuities reduce vulnerability to financial fraud. 84% of annuity owners say their annuity makes them less susceptible to financial exploitation and poor financial decisions as they age — a protection that becomes increasingly important as cognitive capacity can change with time. The survey also finds that 88% of annuity owners believe every retiree’s portfolio should include at least some guaranteed lifetime income, and 89% of retirees say they wish they had been given access to guaranteed income through their workplace plan.
Annuities Outperform Withdrawal Strategies. The Research Is Clear.
A new study by economists Gaobo Pang and Mark Warshawsky stress-tests four major retirement income strategies — pure systematic withdrawals, full annuitization, and two forms of partial annuitization — across a wide range of wealth levels, health statuses, risk preferences, and market conditions. The verdict is unambiguous: partial annuitization outperforms in nearly every scenario tested. Pure withdrawal strategies preserve flexibility but expose retirees to longevity risk and sequence-of-returns risk that significantly threatens long-term income security. Full annuitization maximizes income stability but eliminates liquidity and bequest potential. Partial annuitization — converting a meaningful portion of savings into guaranteed lifetime income while keeping the remainder invested — captures the advantages of both without the primary drawbacks of either. The study also finds that SECURE 2.0 has removed a key tax disadvantage that previously penalized partial annuitization, and that delaying Social Security to age 70 improves outcomes across every income strategy tested. For the millions of Americans retiring without a pension, the research offers a clear framework for building retirement income that lasts.
The 401(k) Is Not Delivering. Employers Are Starting to Admit It
A new survey of 547 U.S. defined contribution plan sponsors from WTW finds that employers increasingly value their retirement plans — but many cannot demonstrate whether those plans are actually helping employees retire on time and with financial confidence. Only 60% of plan sponsors have even a working definition of retirement readiness, and the definitions they use vary widely: income replacement, retiring on time, and retirement confidence each cited by roughly 40% of sponsors. The result is what WTW calls a retirement outcomes gap — a structural mismatch between what employers expect their DC plans to deliver and what those plans were built to do. Three in four employers rank retirement savings as a core or top priority in their total rewards offering. Yet many plans are still governed, measured, and delivered for an era when accumulation was the goal. As the first generation to retire largely without pensions moves through the system, the pressure to prove plans work is mounting — and the solutions increasingly point toward guaranteed lifetime income as the missing link.
Most Pre-Retirees Think About Income. Few Have a Plan for It
New research from LIMRA’s Retirement Income Readiness Report finds that 88% of pre-retirees have thought about how they will generate income in retirement — yet 50% lack a meaningful or recently updated written plan, and only 40% work with a financial advisor. The result is a retirement confidence gap that savings alone will not close. The study, which surveyed 486 pre-retirees and 804 retirees aged 45 and older, finds that only 1 in 4 pre-retirees believe their protected lifetime income sources will cover their essential expenses in retirement. By contrast, 78% of pre-retirees who already have a pension or annuity report high retirement preparedness — compared to just 50% of those without either. Three-quarters of pre-retirees say they want to learn more about protected lifetime income options. The findings make a clear case: thinking about retirement income is not the same as planning for it, and the gap between the two is where retirement security is most at risk.