Post by Brett Kahanowitch

Barron's recently asked a question that should make every financial advisor pause. Do advisors commit malpractice when they do not consider annuities for retirement income planning? The piece was framed as provocative. But the underlying point is serious. Fixed annuity rates from A-rated carriers are sitting near 15-year highs as of July 2026. RILA sales have posted 30 consecutive quarters of year-over-year growth. Clients are asking about guaranteed income at a rate the industry has never seen before. SignalHire And yet the implementation gap persists. Advisors who understand the planning case for annuities still struggle to execute the placement cleanly inside a fee-only model. The knowledge is not always the problem. The execution is. Knowing when an annuity fits a client's plan is one skill set. Knowing which carrier, which product structure, which crediting strategy, and which contract terms actually match that client's situation is another one entirely. The advisors who will lead the next decade of retirement income planning are not the ones who sell the most annuities. They are the ones who know exactly when annuities belong in the plan and have the execution infrastructure to place them cleanly when they do.