Blueprint Income

Blueprint Income operates an online marketplace through which individuals can compare and purchase annuities from a curated set of insurance companies for retirement planning. The platform covers fixed annuities (multi-year guaranteed, tax-deferred products positioned as an alternative to CDs), fixed index annuities whose interest is linked in part to a market index such as the S&P 500 while protecting principal from index losses, and income annuities that convert savings into guaranteed lifetime income, available as immediate annuities, longevity annuities and QLACs. The site publishes current rates and cap rates by term and offers quoting tools, FAQs, comparison content and scheduled calls with specialists.

The digital experience is paired with a staffed team; the company states that any employee who interacts with customers about the products offered is a licensed fixed annuity producer, while some administrative and technical support is handled by non-licensed staff. Blueprint Income is itself a licensed insurance producer, and the annuities it distributes are issued by the partner insurance companies.

An earlier iteration of the business, described in 2018 press coverage, focused on deferred-income annuities sold through a subscription model branded the "personal pension": an initial investment of $5,000 followed by contributions of as little as $100 per month, with online quotes generated in about 60 seconds. At that time the company described itself as acting as a fiduciary and named New York Life and Guardian Life as partners in the subscription service, with a stated longer-term ambition of placing annuity products inside 401(k) plans and employer matching contributions.

Founding story

Co-founder and CEO Matthew (Matt) Carey studied Arabic at the University of Pennsylvania while preparing for a career at the Central Intelligence Agency, but a summer job at the State Department redirected him to Wall Street. Work at advisory firm Lazard and later at the U.S. Treasury Department, where he worked alongside retirement policy official Mark Iwry, focused his interest on U.S. retirement security. He and two co-founders set out to make annuity contracts easier for consumers to buy, an approach inspired in part by the research of Wharton professor Olivia Mitchell.

Business model

Blueprint Income distributes annuity products as a licensed insurance producer and earns commissions from the sale of those products. It states that commission rates are typically set by the issuing insurance companies and are already factored into the quoted interest rate, so customers do not pay an additional fee to work with the company. In its earlier subscription-based deferred-income annuity business, the company reported a one-time commission of 1% to 4% of the initial investment on immediate, deferred and qualified longevity annuity contracts, with the commission on the subscription product split into two payments over two years.

Commissions paid by insurance carriers on annuity contracts sold through the marketplace, embedded in the rates quoted to customers.

Traction

The company reports more than $1 billion in premiums, over 6,000 policies and more than 2,700 clients served. In early 2018 it reported $10 million to $30 million of premiums placed across hundreds of consumers roughly four years into its existence. Its site displays recent verified customer reviews of the application and service experience.

Latest developments

The company currently markets three product lines — fixed annuities, fixed index annuities and income annuities (immediate, longevity and QLACs) — with published rates, and describes itself as an autonomous company offering retirement income products through a digital experience supported by licensed annuity producers.