Annuity Sales Expected to Continue Growth in 2026

“There’s an annuity for everyone” in 2026, predicted Mike Downing, co-president of the Athene Annuity & Life Co., in the company’s “2026 Retirement Outlook: The Return of Retirement Security.” Downing wrote that annuities can offer nearly 2% more yield annually than certificates of deposit or money market accounts.

Meanwhile, LIMRA forecast during a LinkedIn Live event earlier this month that 2026 annuity sales will remain greater than $450 billion per year despite expectations of gradual interest-rate cuts. Those sales, according to the forecast, have been driven by strong consumer demand, new product development and technology-driven efficiencies.

“Annuities are the new safe haven for retirement savers and retirees and are increasingly serving as the centerpiece of prudent retirement stability strategies,” Athene’s Downing wrote. “Across today’s retirement savings and investing landscape, annuity designs can now complement or enhance nearly every core strategy, making it easier to place guaranteed income at the center of a retirement plan.”

Annuity Growth and Potential

LIMRA announced that retail annuity sales finished 2025 at more than $460 billion, marking the fourth consecutive year of record sales. LIMRA projected sales of registered index-linked annuities, which have gained popularity in recent years due to their middle-ground approach between a fixed and a variable product, will exceed $75 billion in both 2025 and 2026. RILA sales grew to $65 billion in 2024 from $24 billion in 2020.

Moreover, sales of fixed-indexed annuities have nearly doubled during the same five-year period, reaching $126 billion in 2024, with similar numbers projected for 2025, according to LIMRA.A spokesperson from LIMRA shared that the 2025 numbers are projected to publish the week of Feburary 9. Sales of the more flexible fee-based annuities, which are now supported by more enhanced technology platforms, have doubled sales since 2020.

According to PLANSPONSOR’s 2025 Defined Contribution Survey, 16% of plan sponsors reported offering their participants in-plan, insurance-based products that guarantee income. Slightly fewer (12.7%) said they offered an out-of-plan annuity purchase or bidding service.

Only 0.2% of respondents said they anticipated being able to add in-plan products by June 30, 2026; 1.9% said maybe; 59.3% reported being unsure; and 35.4% said no. Similar proportions said they anticipated being able to offer out-of-plan services by then—0.1% said yes; 1.1% said maybe;60.1% were unsure; and 38.7% said no.

Keith Golembiewski, LIMRA’s director of annuity research, said during a PLANSPONSOR livestream event in October 2025 that LIMRA data show nearly 95% of workers believe income options should be available within their employer-sponsored retirement plan.

The in-plan annuity marketplace is at a “tipping point,” Golembiewski said. “If the DOL starts believing these product solutions can be used as a default option, that really should start seeing significant growth of this market.”

Golembiewski noted that regulatory progress—such as the Department of Labor’s September 2025 decision to classify AllianceBernstein’s Lifetime Income Strategy as a qualified default investment alternative—could spur broader adoption by plan sponsors.

Technology as a ‘Game Changer’

Downing tells CIO that continued investment in technology will be a “game changer” for annuities to boost accessibility for consumers. He wrote that Athene is confident it can make the experience of purchasing an annuity “almost the same as buying a mutual fund,” despite customers’ perceptions that annuities are more complex, less understandable and have long processing times.

Earlier in January, Digital First for Annuities, an initiative rolled out in 2025 by the Insured Retirement Institute to modernize the promotion of annuities, reduced the time it takes to complete an annuity exchange by up to 94%, to as short as 24 hours from a previous average of 18 days.

Downing wrote in Athene’s outlook: “Now we’re seeing tools like [artificial intelligence] make customer service more efficient and knowledgeable, reducing friction at every step of the annuity journey.”

Tempered Growth

David Blanchett, head of retirement research at Prudential Financial, says he thinks the defined contribution market will see annuity growth in 2026—albeit small, from insurers creating new solutions; more plans adopting solutions; and more participants in DC plans activating their lifetime income benefit or annuitizing.  Rather than direct growth, he says he is more excited about more advisers recommending annuities as part of a lifetime income plan, indicating that the segment of those who do not use annuities at all is shrinking.

Blanchett thinks the best way to manage participants’ improvements in longevity is to do something like buy a lifetime annuity.

“As a rule of thumb, you need to save about 30% less when you allocate to lifetime income,” says Blanchett. “People don’t plan for their life expectancy—and when you pool your risk [by allocating to an insurance company that collectively ensures income for a group,] you don’t have to do that.”

Downing acknowledges that “it’s hard to ask savers who are already saving as much as they can to save more.” But he says annuities’ insurance backing make a saver’s dollar more effective, viewing purchasing an annuity as more of a “reallocation” of assets rather than additional spending.

Brant Wong, Principal Asset Management’s head of retirement solutions, agrees that while “everything in our marketplace goes slowly,” the annuity industry will continue to grow. Meanwhile, he cautions that the products may not actually be for everyone.

Annuities are “an important tool set to help people in their overall risk mitigation,” says Wong. “They’re for people who want assurance, but they’re not going to be the solution for everyone.”