The first quarter of Institutional Distributor annuity sales experienced a shift away from the fixed annuity segment to the registered annuity segment. Despite the geopolitical uncertainty and declines in the equity markets in Q1, investors seemed to be unphased and strong growth in both traditional VA products and registered index-linked (RILA) products drove the Composite Group annuity market sales up.

Saltzman Associates’ Annuity Roundtable for independent broker-dealers (IBDs) and registered investment advisers (RIAs), held in Nashville, brought together leaders across product, distribution, operations, and compliance to talk candidly about what’s working—and what’s changing fast.

In 2025, favorable economic conditions, along with aging demographics and more advisors selling annuities, led to record-breaking individual annuity sales in 2025. Banks and broker-dealers did especially well, a new survey finds.