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Annuities have become more complicated. The IncomeConductor platform is trying to simplify them. By Ben Mattlin

“ The more complex annuities get, the more likely it is that you and your clients will become frustrated,” said Myles Womack, a senior vice president in advanced planning and platform enablement at Jackson.

The presentation, called“ Guarantees vs. Growth: The Annuity Conversation Advisors Need to Master in 2026,” was hosted by IncomeConductor. Originally released back in 2018, this financial planning platform for advisors has been enhanced and upgraded, according to the firm’ s co-founder and CEO, Sheryl O’ Connor, who spoke with Financial Advisor in a separate interview.

Partly in response to user requests, her company’ s cloud-based application, which runs on tablet devices or desktop computers, can now provide daily updates and analytics, she said. She called the newly expanded version of IncomeConductor“ a real gamechanger for our advisors.”

Promotional Campaign

The webinar was part of a promotional campaign to push the product, but it demonstrated with real-world examples how the platform can help advisors clarify for clients the role of annuities in a financial plan.

Phil Lubinski, a certified financial planner and co-founder of IncomeConductor, told the webinar audience that the insurance industry hadn’ t done a great job of explaining annuities to customers.“ Advisors are challenged to communicate how the products work and illustrate the benefits [ of annuities ] within a financial plan,” he said.“ When clients can see what purpose the annuity serves, how it can help them get to their goals, it’ s a lot easier for them to feel good about it.”

He showed several examples of how the program illustrates things like a client’ s different sources of guaranteed retirement income— what happens if they delay claiming Social Security, for instance, and how different types of annuities can enhance retirement income.

Today, he said, trillions of dollars are flowing into retirement savings. This generation of retirees has“ lived through four of the worst market downturns in history,” he continued, citing the drastic sell-offs of 1987, 1997, 2002 and 2008.“ It’ s no surprise that boomers worry about their investments being able to sustain them through retirement. Outliving their savings has become their No. 1 concern.”

Jackson’ s Womack added that pre-retirees and even younger people are worried about funding retirement, too. Like retirees, they are attracted by the idea of securing guaranteed retirement income.

54 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | MARCH / APRIL 2026 WWW. FA-MAG. COM