Flourish expands digital fee-based annuities platform for RIAs

New York, May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Flourish, a WealthTech platform that helps registered investment advisors (RIAs) grow by evolving from holistic advice to holistic implementation, today announced a significant expansion of Flourish Annuities, its digital end-to-end RIA-centric annuities platform for advisors. The enhanced offering adds to the types of annuities available and broadens its carrier network, further empowering independent advisors to more effectively incorporate protection solutions into client portfolios.

Building on the success of its Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuities (MYGAs) offering, Flourish Annuities is now expanding its marketplace of fee-based annuity products to include Registered Index-Linked Annuities (RILAs), Fixed Indexed Annuities (FIAs), and Variable Annuities (VAs). For clients seeking lifetime income options, guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits (GLWBs) can be added to eligible annuity contracts for a fee, giving clients the option to receive a “paycheck for life.” 

The platform now boasts offerings from five highly-rated insurance carriers including new partnerships with Equitable and Jackson National Life Insurance Company^® (Jackson^®). They join existing carrier partners Aspida, Corebridge Financial, and MassMutual Ascend. 

The Flourish platform continues to remove the barriers to annuities adoption by RIAs by allowing advisors to leverage an insurance-licensed outsourced insurance desk (OID), offering a digital application experience, and curating a marketplace of fee-based annuities designed for RIAs. 

“As we transition to Wealth 3.0, advisors are increasingly expected to go beyond traditional portfolio management and bring their clients solutions that address all aspects of their financial lives," said Max Lane, CEO of Flourish. “Fee-based annuities serve as an important tool to replace older commissioned annuities that are no longer fit for purpose. They can also add highly valued safety to financial portfolios through lifetime income, guaranteed protection and returns, or tax deferral. Advisors who are looking to grow their firms and produce better results for clients can now access a wide range of annuities via the same beautiful experience they’ve come to expect from Flourish solutions.”

"Recent market volatility underscores the need for protection and income strategies to help financial professionals and their clients plan for the future with confidence, especially with a record 11,000 Americans turning 65 every day. Equitable is a leader in the annuity market and has a history of innovation in designing solutions that offer tax-advantaged growth, downside protection and guaranteed income in retirement," said Pete Golden, Chief Sales & Distribution Officer for Individual Retirement at Equitable. "We look forward to collaborating with more registered investment advisors through our new relationship with Flourish."

"Adding Jackson annuities to the Flourish platform increases our access to the growing RIA channel and represents another option for financial professionals to integrate annuities into their clients’ portfolios," said Tim Munsie, head of RIA, platform distribution and planning at Jackson National Life Distributors LLC, the marketing and distribution business of Jackson. "We must continue to increase financial professional access to fee-based annuity options, and the Flourish platform makes this possible by eliminating insurance licensing requirements, which helps simplify the process for financial professionals and their clients.”

The platform expansion also allows advisors to help clients transition from annuities that no longer meet their needs to fee-based alternatives that better align with clients' financial goals.

Flourish Annuities was built for independent RIAs who have not traditionally adopted annuities into their practice largely due to licensing requirements, operational complexities, and outdated technology. Flourish Annuities addresses and eliminates these barriers with its digital-first platform, Outsourced Insurance Desk (OID), and curated marketplace of fee-based annuities from vetted carriers. Flourish Annuities is integrated with key advisor platforms including eMoney, Orion, Black Diamond, and Redtail, making it easy for advisors to incorporate annuities into their existing workflows and bill on them just like any other asset in the portfolio.