At the start of 2008, the effective federal funds interest rate was 3.94% and poised to drop as the subprime crisis took hold and the Federal Reserve sought to reduce borrowing costs. In 2022, consistent rate hikes meant to tame inflation brought the rate to 4.1% by December.
In both circumstances, annuity sales were driven in part from investors fleeing to the safety of guaranteed returns from fixed annuity products, according to Todd Giesing, assistant vice president, LIMRA annuity research. In 2022, however, investors were doing so in a rising rate environment in which they could capture guaranteed returns from […]
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