"The Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) has reported an interesting increase in the sales of income annuities--i.e. annuities where income payments begin within a year of the date of issue. The total sales, $2.3 billion for the third quarter of 2012, is still very small when compared with total annuity sales for the quarter of $52.9 billion. Nevertheless, such an increase in income annuity sales (3.8%) indicates a trend that flies in the face of conventional wisdom regarding annuitization."  MORE >>