Life insurance was once sold primarily by career life agents, also known as captive agents, representing a single insurance company, and by independent agents, representing several insurers. Now, life insurance is sold directly to the public by mail, telephone, and the Internet. Independent insurance agents have the largest share of the market, followed by affiliated agents.
Worksite marketing is the selling of voluntary (employee-paid) insurance and financial products at the worksite. The products may be sold individually or in groups, and policyholders usually pay premiums through periodic payroll deductions. Worksite sales of life and health insurance totaled $8.75 billion in 2022, up from $8.3 billion in 2021, according to Eastbridge Consulting Group.
According to LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute, 2025 individual annuity sales reached historic levels ($463.7B) for the fourth year in a row. Independent broker-dealers were the largest single distributor of annuities, with 24 percent of sales. Banks accounted for the second-largest share of annuity sales by channel with 21 percent of sales, up from 17 percent of the market in 2021.
