New York Life is considering selling its income annuities to registered investment advisors, independent broker/dealers and other intermediaries. In 2006, New York Life, which owns New York Life Investment Management, became the top seller in banks with its fixed income annuities.
Income annuities have become increasingly important to mutual fund firms because they can help baby boomers buy a guaranteed income stream during retirement, allowing investors to keep a larger portion of their portfolios in the stock market. Allowing investors to maintain exposure to equity markets is a boon to fund firms and many are now thinking about ways to encourage investors to stay invested after they retire.
Andrew Reiss, v.p. and national sales manager for New York Life’s bank channel, said the firm is also in the early stages of determining how to fit its income annuity into popular unified managed accounts programs. In a UMA the fees on investments need to be designed in such a way that advisors can charge an annual fee for an overall portfolio. Reiss said that New York Life has added four retirement income specialists who will help its generalist wholesalers design portfolios with income annuities as part of an overall portfolio. Reiss said that much of the specialists’ role will be to educate advisors on income annuities. “We’re still early with this in the industry,” he said.