Annuities For The Middle Class?

Since the market collapse last year, more investors have been turning to annuities—the ultimate chastity belt at a time when wild volatility in the stock market have reined in more promiscuous behavior and risk... Given the widespread fear in the Great Recession, it’s no surprise annuity sales have skyrocketed over the last year...

Year to date, fixed annuity sales (including immediate annuities and indexed annuities) rose to $62.56 billion for the first half of 2009 from $44.89 billion for the first half of ’08, according to Beacon Research in Evanston, Ill. If you take the last 12 months from the third quarter of ’08 through the second quarter of ’09 the sales were $124.36 billion, which almost doubles the $66.6 billion in sales in ‘07...

FA Mag: Annuities For The Middle Class?