Amid VA Anxieties, A Historic Year For Annuities

This will be a historic year for annuities -- that much was clear at the opening of the Insured Retirement Institute's Marketing Summit 2016 on Sunday.

The sentiment about the future tends to be dread. Certainly, quite a bit of anxiety is building around variable annuities. Sales have been slowing and two of the biggest companies, AIG and MetLife, sold off their advisor groups because of liability concerns.

Advisors said in the opening sessions they have no doubt that they will have to cut lower-income clients and rethink their business.

One aspect of that reconsideration might be a surprise. Advisors who are accustomed to selling VAs are taking a closer look at the fixed indexed annuity side of the fence.