[quote=Nova02]

Now, to be clear - are we all talking about Equity Indexed Annuities or are "Fixed Index" annuities something different?  Perhaps that's where I'm missing the boat here.

[/quote]

Same thing 

Whether it be fixed annuity, or indexed annuity, I find it very hard to see a scenario where a client will be happy with that product come 5-10 yrs from now. I wish that wasn't the case, because those products are very profitable to me. But, I have to serve my clients first...

There are some limited roles for annuties, and my 3 person practice does "some" annuity biz. I think currently, 10% of our assets are in annuity products. Now, my colleagues, that is another story... At my former bank, I'd say as much as 50% of the reps assets were in annuities, and that is borderline criminal in my mind. IMHO, anything over 25% doesn't pass the smell test.

There were two stretches of my career where I did significant production in annuities. It is interesting, that my average client relationship was inversely related to annuity assets under management. The more they owned, the less likely they were to stay as a client, or provide more aum.

The above, just my opinion... 

[quote=BigFirepower]

Whether it be fixed annuity, or indexed annuity, I find it very hard to see a scenario where a client will be happy with that product come 5-10 yrs from now. I wish that wasn't the case, because those products are very profitable to me. But, I have to serve my clients first...

The above, just my opinion... 

[/quote]

I have several clients that are thrilled with them.. In each case, client had rollover/cdmoney/savings account/ that wasn't going to be used.  Most recently a client who switched jobs rolled over $50K from a 401k to a bank ira cd(local bank). She said she didn't want to lose any money but would be happy with some gains (client is 45, so can't access the money for a while anyway)... Showed her the EIA and she was thrilled. got 8% last year vs the CD rate of 2%..Moved it to the fixed allocation this year to lock in 3%.. Now she is guaranteed to beat that cd at 2% over 5 years.. and we still have 3 years left of possible gains...but no losses..