In Practice January 5, 2026

Nuts & Bolts: In-Plan Annuities

As in-plan annuities gain interest among plan sponsors and retirees, retirement plan advisers need a clear understanding of what products are available.

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With an uptick in asset manager adoption, increased interest from clients and growing sales, annuities are proving to have lasting appeal.

In 2025, total industry sales of annuities were projected to reach $450 billion, nearly double the volume seen in 2020.

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Due to the complexity of the products and their multifaceted nature, industry professionals say it is vital for advisers to know the different types of annuities and to understand which products best fit their clients’ plans.

“The adviser has to have this domain expertise. … I think that’s really important, but the problem is even if one product is good for a plan, it’s not likely the best product for every participant in that plan,” says David Blanchett, head of retirement research at Prudential Financial and a PGIM portfolio manager.

In December 2025, Vanguard and TIAA jointly rolled out a target-date “lifetime income” collective investment trust series, Target Retirement Income Trusts.

“I think that’s significant for a lot of people because, first of all, Vanguard is a really popular target-date provider, and secondly, because Vanguard has not necessarily been seen as a huge proponent of annuities, per se. … It has not been part of their base investment philosophy, and that’s obviously changing,” says Tamiko Toland, founder and CEO of 401(k) Annuity Hub. “I think [that] Vanguard going that direction has been a great signal to the marketplace that this is not just a trend that’s going to disappear.”

In-plan annuities are annuity contracts offered within a qualified employer-sponsored retirement plan, allowing employees to convert savings into guaranteed retirement income. Of the different types available, Blanchett says most annuities sold are living benefit riders, most commonly guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits. Living benefit riders typically guarantee that the retiree can withdraw a specified amount each year for life, regardless of market performance.

Two prominent types of irrevocable transfer annuities are single premium immediate annuities and deferred income annuities. Blanchett says SPIAs, via which clients pay an insurance company a lump sum (a single premium) for a guaranteed income stream, are the “original lifetime income annuity.”

Nestimate compiled a list of the most prominent retirement income solutions, including in-plan annuity products, what kind of guarantees they target and examples of the providers that offer them.

Lifetime income guarantee that starts immediately:

1. Immediate Fixed Annuity

  • MetLife
  • Pacific Life
  • Prudential
  • Western & Southern Financial Group

Lifetime income guarantees that pay out later:

1. Deferred Fixed Annuity

  • Principal

2. Target-Date Funds With Fixed Annuity

  • Nuveen (provider) and TIAA (insurer)
  • BlackRock (provider) and Brighthouse Financial, Equitable (insurers)
  • American Funds or BlackRock (providers) and TIAA (insurer)

3. Target-Date Funds With Indexed Annuity

  • American Funds and ARS (providers) and Nationwide (insurer)
  • State Street and ARS (providers) and Athene, Nationwide (insurers)
  • Principal and ARS (providers) and Athene, Nationwide (insurers)

4. Target-Date Funds With Guaranteed Lifetime Benefit:

  • Income America (provider) and Nationwide, Lincoln Financial Group (insurers)
  • BlackRock (provider) and Lincoln Financial Group (insurer)
  • J.P. Morgan Asset Management (provider) and Prudential, Equitable (insurers)

Fixed Annuities That Start Later in Retirement:

1. Target-Date Funds With Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract:

  • T. Rowe Price (provider) and Pacific Life (insurer)
  • State Street Global Advisors (provider) and Pacific Life, MetLife (insurer)

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