Reston, VA, February 26, 2002 - The National Association for Variable Annuities (NAVA) announced today that the combined net assets of U.S. variable annuities increased 8.5 percent to $883 billion at the end of the fourth quarter relative to the end of the third quarter of 2001.  Net assets decreased by 7.7 percent as compared to the end of 2000.

Table 1. Variable Annuity Net Assets

(Dollars in Millions)                     12/31/01          9/30/01            12/31/00    

Total Net Assets                           882,912          813,527           956,491

The mix by investment objective showed that $517.4 billion, or 58.6 percent of assets, was held in equity accounts.  This is a decrease of 16.8 percent as compared with year-end 2000 when $621.7 billion, or 65.0 percent, was held in equity accounts. 

Table 2. Variable Annuity Assets by Investment Objective

(As a percent of total assets)                     12/31/01                12/31/00           

Equity                                                        58.6%                    65.0%
Fixed Accounts                                            22.2                       18.8
Balanced                                                      8.4                         8.4
Bonds                                                          6.4                         4.6
Money Market                                               4.4                         3.2

Total variable annuity premium flow, or total sales, for fourth quarter was $27.8 billion, a 9.2 percent decrease from fourth quarter 2000.  For consecutive quarterly trends, the fourth quarter experienced a 2.3 percent increase in sales as compared with $27.2 billion reported for the third quarter 2001.  The mix in premiums for the fourth quarter showed 55 percent of the flow was in qualified plans and 45 percent in non-qualified.  Year-end total premium flow of $112.8 billion is 17.8 percent below last year's year-end total sales volume of $137.2 billion.

Table 3. Variable Annuity Premium Flows

                                                  Quarter Ended                          Year-Ended

(Dollars in Millions)             12/31/01          12/31/00          12/31/01          12/31/00

Total Premium Flows             27,797             30,617           112,824           137,180

NAVA is a non-profit trade association located in suburban Washington D.C.  NAVA provides a variety of services to the industry including educational forums, research, and conferences aimed at furthering the development of fixed and variable annuities, income annuities and variable life insurance.  NAVA also maintains and supports an educational website for consumers at www.RetireOnYourTerms.com.