Can you still buy an annuity from Voya Financial?
No. Voya sold off its entire individual annuity book between 2018 and 2019 and asked AM Best to withdraw its rating soon after, so there is no financial strength grade to point to for new business because there is no new business to write. Today Voya runs employer retirement plans, 401(k), 403(b) and 457 accounts, along with workplace benefits and investment management. If you already own an individual annuity that traces back to Voya, ING U.S. or ReliaStar, your contract now lives with Venerable, which took over the guarantees, the surrender schedule and the servicing when the sale closed.
Voya Financial at a glance
| Legal name | Voya Financial, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Ticker | NYSE: VOYA |
| Former name | ING U.S., Inc., rebranded Voya Financial in April 2014 |
| Founded | 1975 as ING U.S.; Voya brand launched in 2014 |
| Headquarters | New York, New York |
| Individual annuity business | Exited: sold to Venerable Holdings in 2018 and Resolution Life in 2019 |
| What Voya does today | 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plan administration, workplace benefits, investment management |
| AM Best rating | Withdrawn at Voya's own request in April 2019 |
Today's rates for Voya Financial
Rates change often and vary by state, term and deposit size. Get today's numbers for your state, side by side with other top-rated carriers. Free, with no obligation.
What happened to Voya's annuity business?
Voya Financial trades on the New York Stock Exchange under VOYA and started life as ING U.S., the American arm of the Dutch financial group ING, before it was spun off and listed in 2013. The company took the Voya name in 2014. Back then it was a full-line insurer selling variable, fixed indexed and fixed annuities alongside individual life insurance and its group retirement business.
That changed in 2018 and 2019. Voya sold its entire book of individual annuities, including the closed block of variable annuity contracts, to Venerable Holdings, a group backed by Apollo Global Management, Crestview Partners and Reverence Capital Partners. A year later, it sold its individual life insurance block to Resolution Life. Between those two deals, Voya walked away from retail individual insurance products entirely. Soon after, it asked AM Best to withdraw its rating, which makes sense for a company that no longer had new individual policies for a rating to cover.
What Voya does today
Voya's business today looks very different from its old annuity lineup:
- Group retirement plans. Administering and recordkeeping 401(k), 403(b) and 457(b) plans for employers is Voya's core business now.
- Workplace benefits. Voluntary coverage such as disability, life and supplemental health, sold through employer channels.
- Investment management. Voya Investment Management runs institutional and retail funds and managed accounts.
There is no individual MYGA, fixed indexed annuity or variable annuity anywhere in that list, and none is sold through independent agents or direct to consumers either.
Who is Voya actually serving now?
- Employers who use Voya to run their 401(k), 403(b) or 457 plans.
- Employees enrolled in a workplace plan Voya administers.
- Institutional clients using Voya's investment management arm.
If you are shopping for a new individual fixed or indexed annuity, Voya simply is not an option anymore. Our guide to the best fixed annuity companies is a better starting point.
What happened to my Voya annuity?
If you bought an individual annuity through Voya, ING U.S. or its subsidiary ReliaStar Life Insurance Company, it was part of the 2018 sale to Venerable Holdings. Every guarantee, every surrender schedule and every payment right you had written into that contract carried over. Venerable is the company legally responsible for those obligations now, not Voya. If you have lost track of your policy or need to update your address, Venerable is who to contact, not Voya's customer service line.
Other companies to consider
If you are looking for a carrier that still issues new individual annuities, these are worth comparing:
- Venerable: now services former Voya and ING individual annuity contracts
- Pacific Life: active issuer of fixed, indexed and variable annuities
- Lincoln Financial: broad annuity and life insurance lineup
We can help you compare current, actively sold annuities from carriers still in the retail market, rather than a company that exited it years ago.
Pros and cons
Pros
- One of the larger 401(k) and 403(b) recordkeepers in the country, with a solid reputation on the employer side
- Broad workplace benefits lineup that appeals to HR teams consolidating multiple vendors
- Established investment management arm through Voya Investment Management
Cons
- No individual annuity products of any kind, fixed, indexed or variable, since the 2018 to 2019 exit
- AM Best rating withdrawn in 2019, so there is nothing current to check for new business
- Not reachable through independent agents or IMOs for annuity shopping
- Anyone who already owned a Voya annuity now deals with a different company, Venerable, for service
Frequently asked questions
Does Voya still sell individual annuities?
No, not since it exited that business in 2018 and 2019. Voya no longer issues fixed, indexed or variable annuity contracts to individual buyers. If you want one today, compare carriers that are still active in that market, such as those listed in our best fixed annuity companies guide.
Who services my old Voya annuity now?
If your contract was originally issued by Voya, ING U.S. or ReliaStar Life Insurance Company, it was transferred to Venerable Holdings in 2018. Venerable now handles withdrawals, statements and every other service request, and it is legally bound to honor the guarantees written into your original policy.
Is Voya still a good choice for my workplace 401(k)?
That is a separate question from annuities. Voya remains a major recordkeeper for employer retirement plans, and plenty of workers have a Voya-administered 401(k) or 403(b) with no issue. Whether Voya is a good fit for your workplace plan does not depend on the fact that it stopped selling individual annuities; those are two different lines of business entirely.
Written and reviewed by
James Forren Warren
Licensed Retirement Income Strategist · License #20551202
James Forren Warren is a licensed Retirement Income Strategist with Tax Free Wealth Plan. For the past five years he has helped individuals and families turn their savings into retirement income they can count on. He writes and reviews the annuity research on this site and keeps it plain: what a product does, what it costs you, and who it actually fits.
Sources
Educational only, not investment, tax or legal advice. Tax Free Wealth Plan LLC is a licensed insurance agency, not a registered investment adviser or broker-dealer. Annuities are not bank deposits, are not FDIC insured and are not guaranteed by any government agency. Guarantees are backed solely by the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. Features, rates and availability vary by state and change over time; the contract and disclosure documents govern.
