The annuity market is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by record-breaking sales, shifting consumer demand, and technological advancements that are making annuities more accessible than ever. Traditionally, annuity order entry platforms were designed for institutional financial firms, leaving independent life brokerage agencies with limited digital solutions. However, with the rise of innovative platforms and growing interest in guaranteed retirement income, the industry is witnessing a shift. New technologies are streamlining the annuity sales process, improving transparency, and enabling advisors to better serve their clients. As annuity adoption expands beyond traditional distribution channels, independent agents, BGAs, and IMOs now have powerful tools at their disposal to navigate the growing marketplace efficiently.
For years, leading annuity order entry platform vendors dominated the financial institutional space, with limited penetration into the independent life brokerage sector. However, that landscape is shifting. iPipeline’s AFFIRM® for Annuities, a multi-carrier compliance and order management system, has long been a preferred choice for Independent Broker-Dealers and Wire Houses. Designed to streamline annuity transactions for carriers, distributors, and financial professionals, AFFIRM® supports both fixed and variable annuity products, ensuring seamless order entry and compliance. More recently, the platform has gained traction among BGAs and IMOs for electronically submitting annuity applications, marking a significant expansion in its adoption.
Hexure’s FireLight® has had an early advantage in the independent distribution space, thanks to its comprehensive digital sales capabilities for both life insurance and annuities. By integrating pre-sale functions, sales illustration tools, and post-sale services into a single platform, FireLight enhances efficiency and user experience, making it a go-to solution for independent advisors seeking a streamlined, end-to-end annuity sales process.
As annuity adoption expands in the independent brokerage space, the broader market trends further underscore the growing demand for these products. Record-high annuity sales, driven by rising interest rates and a wave of retiring baby boomers, highlight a massive opportunity for financial professionals. Yet, despite this momentum, annuities remain underutilized, with many retirees unaware of their potential benefits. The challenge? Complexity. Many advisors and consumers struggle to navigate the diverse range of products, making it difficult to compare options and confidently select the best solution. This is where innovative technology solutions, like BackNine’s Quote & Apply platform, are stepping in to simplify the process and bring annuities to a wider audience.
Total annuity sales posted $432.4 billion in 2024, the third consecutive year of record high annuity sales, per LIMRA. With the backdrop of the best interest rate environment in nearly 20 years, and more than 10,000 baby boomers retiring every day, it’s easy to understand why the annuity market is so hot. Bryan Hodgens, Head of LIMRA Research, puts it best–“Since the pandemic, we have seen a significant rise in consumer interest in investment protection and guaranteed retirement income solutions.” More than 70 percent of the marketplace is in fixed, indexed, and income annuities, meaning the opportunity for insurance professionals to expand their business and work with a wider swath of clients is rich.
Despite the boom in the annuity markets, it’s estimated that only about 10 percent of retirees own annuities. This is in the face of research that suggests the average American would be interested in the protection and guarantees afforded by annuities. For example, American Century Investment’s Annual Retirement Survey found that 92 percent of Americans would be interested in using a portion of their retirement plans to generate guaranteed lifetime income.
The most likely reason for this disconnect? Annuities are seen as complex solutions by advisors and retail clients alike, and carriers can make it difficult to compare different products. It’s difficult to act in your client’s best interest when you can’t easily compare all of the solutions in the marketplace. BackNine Insurance and Financial Services is a BGA that has enhanced their multi-carrier life insurance quoting and eApp solution to now support annuities. This system has allowed agents and their clients to find the best coverage for their dollar in all manners of life insurance, from term life to IUL to long term care. With their most recent enhancement, Quote and Apply can now help you easily find the best lifetime income annuity for each client’s unique case.
As an example, let’s imagine you’re working with a 60-year-old client who plans to retire at age 66 whose only source of guaranteed lifetime income is Social Security. You discover in your meeting that the client has $200,000 eligible for rollover into an annuity. By answering just five questions, you’ll be shown the highest lifetime income solution out of more than 100 different products. You can easily find key details, such as fee rates, liquidity provisions, and surrender schedules, and you can download client brochures or advisor guides. You can also compare the contract to other top options, allowing you to show clients that you’re acting transparently in their best interest with your recommendation.
Financial planners can also use this tool to solve for a client’s income gap–if you know the difference between the client’s expected retirement expenses and their other guaranteed income sources, you can find the most efficient income product for their plan. Once you know your product of choice you can easily bridge into BackNine’s online order entry portal, allowing you to complete forms digitally and collect signatures electronically. This process saves valuable time, reduces new business errors, and makes writing annuity business much easier. While you may have utilized other quoting and comparison engines, what sets BackNine apart is the ability to solve for all insurable needs in one place. As the first multi-product line consumer-facing quote and application system, Quote & Apply empowers agents and their clients to get quotes in seconds and apply in minutes. BackNine also offers a proprietary CRM, BOSS™ (Back Office Support System) to help agents easily manage client relationships and new business.
BackNine’s President of Annuity Sales, Matt Gozdecki, sees Quote and Apply for annuities to get back to the basics, “Study after study shows us that the appetite for guaranteed retirement income amongst Americans is significant, but the insurance industry has unnecessarily complicated that conversation. Quote and Apply lets you take the conversation away from confusing riders, roll up rates, bonuses, and deferral credits, and put the focus back on what matters–protecting lifetime income as efficiently as possible!”’
As the annuity landscape evolves, the role of technology in simplifying the sales process and expanding access to these valuable financial products cannot be overstated. The surge in annuity sales underscores a growing consumer appetite for guaranteed retirement income, yet the complexity of product comparisons and application processes has historically been a barrier to broader adoption. Fortunately, platforms like iPipeline’s AFFIRM®, Hexure’s FireLight®, and BackNine’s Quote & Apply are breaking down these barriers, empowering financial professionals with the tools they need to act in their clients’ best interests. By providing intuitive interfaces, seamless digital workflows, and real-time product comparisons, these solutions are making it easier than ever to incorporate annuities into holistic retirement strategies.
For independent agents, BGAs, and IMOs, the opportunity is clear: embracing digital platforms can lead to increased efficiency, fewer errors, and ultimately, more satisfied clients. As more retirees seek financial security amid market uncertainty, advisors who leverage these technologies will be best positioned to meet demand and drive business growth. The future of annuity distribution is digital, transparent, and advisor-friendly. By adopting the right tools today, financial professionals can ensure they are not just keeping pace with the industry’s evolution but leading the way in providing innovative retirement income solutions.
