We Americans usually look forward to the beginning of the holiday shopping season with lifted spirits as well as animal spirits lifting the markets. Not today. With our tables now cleared of turkey and all the trimmings, it appears that platefuls of uncertainty have replaced the sweet potatoes and green bean casserole.
A double whammy of uncertainties caught the markets off guard late yesterday. Chinese regulators asked that ride-hailing firm Didi Global be delisted from U.S markets, throwing yet more cold water on the world's second largest market and an engine of global growth for the last twenty years.
And more unwelcome news about a new Covid variant sprang from major wire services last evening as we Americans were giving thanks for all that we have - likely including thanks for progress made against this persistent virus.
Both of which are stark reminders of the value of solutions that offer a degree of certainty of outcome. Whether its future capital markets performance, or longevity, or morbidity, all have one thing in common: they are impossible to predict with consistent accuracy.
The annuity industry has undergone a wave of innovation like never before, and we can thank a dozen years of low interest rates for accelerating that innovation, necessity being the mother of its close cousin, invention.
From RILAs to FIAs and FIAs and VAs with lifetime withdrawal benefits - all are available now to inject a healthy dose of certainty into the portfolios of those who want more.
In this world, who doesn't want to take some uncertainty off the table?
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