Annuity contributions dipped by double digits last year while life insurance continued to lose popularity among consumers as a way to protect family finances, according to a report released by the American Council of Life Insurers Thursday.
Contributions to individual annuities shrunk to $209 billion in 2015, a 15.6 percent decline from 2014.
Payments into annuities offered by employer retirement plans rose in the year to $124 billion from $114 billion, but they were significantly down from a 2012 high of $159 billion.
Life insurance continued to drop in importance as a tool to protect financial security.
The average face amount for policies dipped to $160,000 in 2015 from $165,000 in 2014 and the industry high of $175,000 in 2007.
In real terms, the decrease in financial protection sought by people through life insurance was even greater because inflation ate up 14.5 percent of the purchasing power last year that existed in 2007.
The total face value of purchases rose slightly in the year to $1.66 trillion from $1.56 trillion, but was down from $1.77 trillion a decade earlier.
The number of whole life policies sold in 2015 was almost twice the number of term policies, but the face value of new term insurance coverage was double.
During the last year, 6.2 million new whole life policies were sold compared with 5.6 million in 2014. The face value climbed to $500 billion from $464 billion.
For term, the number of new policies increased to 3.8 million from 3.5 million while the face value of the new purchases was unchanged at $1.1 trillion.