VA assets grew $1.5 trillion in 4Q

Variable annuity assets increased to $1.5 trillion during the third quarter, ending Sept. 30, NAVA said in a release today. That’s a 15.3% gain from the same period last year, when net assets for variable annuities were $1.3 trillion, reported the retirement-industry trade group. Total sales (or premium flows) of variable annuities have skyrocketed to $46.2 billion, up 24.9% from the third quarter in 2006. More than 61% of these premiums were in qualified plans, with the remainder coming from non-qualified plans. Additionally, a greater share of variable annuity assets are in equity accounts: $907.4 billion, or 60.8% of total assets, are in equities, compared to 59.0% (or $763.3 billion) last year. However, fixed accounts lost some of their share, bringing in 17.1% of the assets (or $255.8 billion), down from 20.4% last year. “I think that the increase in assets as well as the pick-up in sales is attributed to consumer confidence in the stock market in general and being invested in an equity product,” said Deborah Tucker, a vice president of Reston, Va.-based NAVA. “The increase is reflective of the appreciation of the assets already invested in annuities, coupled with higher consumer demand.”