The retail side of a trillion-dollar secret hiding in plain sight
The phrase is crude. Intentionally so.
Definition and Etymology of “Annuity Whore” https://iask.ai/q/Definition-of-annuity-whore-f7vv190
The term “annuity whore” is a derogatory slang expression used within the financial services industry, particularly among stockbrokers, investment advisors, and insurance agents.[1] It refers to a financial professional who aggressively pushes or sells annuities to clients—often regardless of the client’s actual financial needs—primarily to capture the high upfront commissions associated with these products.[2] [3]
Inside parts of the brokerage and insurance world, “annuity whore” is slang for the advisor who pushes annuities first, asks questions later—because annuities are where the money is. Not the client’s money. The advisor’s.
And in 2026, as indexing, ETFs, and fee transparency squeeze traditional commissions to dust, the least transparent corner of the financial system has quietly become the revenue engine for huge swaths of the advisory industry:
State-regulated insurance products. Annuities. Spread. Hidden fees. Misleading performance.
Not disclosed like an expense ratio.
Not benchmarked like a mutual fund.
Not visible on Morningstar.
Not visible on your statement.
But worth trillions.
The modern advisor compensation problem
As trading commissions went to zero and clients learned to ask, “What’s your fee?”, many advisors didn’t become fee-only fiduciaries.
They went where the fees are invisible.
They went to insurance.
They went to annuities.
And they wrapped it in the most comforting phrase in finance:
“Retirement income planning.”
The three channels where annuities quietly dominate
1) Independent insurance / hybrid advisors (often CFPs)
- RIA + insurance agent at the same time
- Insurance license is the revenue engine
- Annuities are often the largest payout product
- “Fiduciary advice” on the front end, insurance contract on the back end
Many of these advisors are credentialed by the CFP Board and truthfully say they are fiduciaries.
They are.
But the product they recommend:
- does not disclose spread,
- cannot be benchmarked like a fund,
- embeds compensation inside the contract,
- and, in retirement plans, can create ERISA conflicts.
That’s the fiduciary paradox.
2) Wirehouses and regional broker-dealers
At firms like Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Stifel, and Edward Jones:
- There are dedicated annuity desks
- Internal wholesalers
- Payout grids that reward annuity production
- Retirement campaigns built around “guaranteed income”
Do their 10-Ks say, “50% of this branch’s book is annuities”?
No.
They bury it in:
“commissions and fees,”
“insurance revenues,”
“transactional revenues.”
It’s disclosed.
Just not in a way a client could ever piece together.
3) Retail retirement accounts and IRA rollovers
This is the part that almost no one measures correctly.
Annuities don’t show up in:
- ETF flow tables
- Mutual fund league tables
- Morningstar categories
They show up on insurance company balance sheets as general account reserves.
According to the Federal Reserve Financial Accounts (Z.1):
- Life insurers’ individual annuity reserves ≈ $2.8 trillion
- Household life insurance & annuity entitlements ≈ $6.7 trillion
That is not fringe money.
That is one of the largest pools of retirement assets in America.
There are literally thousands of different insurance products and some are worse than others. There are some responsible people in the industry calling out the worst products but they are a minority.
Why the public massively underestimates annuities
Because they are not counted like investments.
They are counted like insurance liabilities.
Which means:
- No ticker
- No expense ratio
- No performance chart
- No easy comparison
Just a crediting rate… set by the insurer… after they take their spread.
How to tell if your advisor lives off annuities
You don’t ask them.
You read what they are required to disclose.
- Look up the firm on the SEC site:
SEC AdviserInfo
Read the Form ADV Part 2. Search for:
- insurance products
- annuities
- revenue sharing
- affiliates
- Look up the broker on:
FINRA BrokerCheck - Look for dual registration:
- Investment adviser
- Insurance agent
That combination is where the annuity money lives.
The uncomfortable truth
A very large portion of the financial advisory industry would struggle to survive on transparent fees alone.
Annuities solve three problems for advisors and firms:
- High, durable compensation
- Client stickiness (hard to move once placed)
- A simple retirement income story
And for clients, they sound comforting:
- “Principal protection”
- “No volatility”
- “Guaranteed income”
What almost no one asks:
- What is the spread?
- What is the insurer earning versus you?
- How is the advisor paid inside this?
- Could this be replicated cheaper with transparent investments?
Even fiduciaries sell them
This is where it gets uncomfortable for the industry.
A CFP can say, honestly:
“I am a fiduciary, and this annuity is in your best interest.”
And believe it.
Because the system never forces reconciliation between:
- fiduciary duty,
- opaque product economics,
- and embedded compensation.
That’s the gap.
That’s the dirty secret.
Why this matters beyond retail (and why it’s explosive)
As documented at the Commonsense 401k Project, even retirement plans have quietly filled with these products. But the retail side is much bigger and has been hiding in plain sight for decades.
You are not looking at a fringe misuse. https://commonsense401kproject.com/2026/01/23/fixed-annuities-are-the-dirty-secret-hiding-in-401k-and-403b-plans/
You are looking at a dominant distribution product in American retirement investing that:
- is opaque,
- is compensation-heavy,
- and is sold by people calling themselves fiduciaries.
That’s not a small problem.
That’s structural.
The thesis
If your advisor talks endlessly about:
“income,”
“guarantees,”
“sleep at night,”
…and you see insurance contracts instead of transparent funds…
You may not have a fee problem.
You may have an annuity problem.
And the way to tell is not what they say.
It’s what they disclose in the fine print they hope you never read.
The CommonSense 401k Project 