Investors Heritage At a Glance: Rates, Products and Reviews

Additional Products Offered by Investors Heritage

Most of the current products offered by Investors Heritage can be traced back just a few years. The company currently sells fixed index annuities and MYGAs, with the MYGA first becoming available in 2018 and the fixed index annuities in 2021.

The company’s annuity offerings are limited compared to certain competitors, with no variable or immediate products.

Fixed Index Annuities

Investors Heritage sells a handful of fixed index annuities. The first of these products is the Heritage Growth Advantage, which guarantees that you will never risk losing your initial investment even if the indexes you choose lose value.

Heritage Growth Advantage is available with surrender periods of seven or 10 years, along with a minimum initial premium of $25,000 and a maximum of $1 million.

They offer three different indexes. In a departure from many competitors, the S&P 500 on its own is not one of the choices, but it is available as one part of an index.

Heritage Growth Advantage Indexes

• Morgan Stanley Dynamic US Equities Index 
• S&P Marc 5%
• SG Entelligent Agile 6%

Investors Heritage also sells the Heritage Growth Advantage+, which is a similar product to Heritage Growth Advantage but also offers a premium bonus.

The final fixed index annuity available is Heritage Income Advantage, which has an optional Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit rider. Minimum initial deposits start at $25,000 and cap out at $1 million, with a premium bonus available.

Each of Investors Heritage’s fixed index annuities includes a nursing home waiver and the ability to withdraw 10% of the contract with no penalty after the first year.

However, the nursing home waiver only provides access to 50% of your account value, which is a major difference from most providers who offer full access in emergencies.

MYGAs

In addition to its fixed index products, Investors Heritage sells a multi-year guaranteed annuity.

The Heritage Builder Annuity is available in terms of three, five or seven years. It has a minimum initial deposit of $25,000 and a maximum of $2 million.

It is a straightforward product that can serve as a strong option for those looking to avoid risk.

About Investors Heritage

Investors Heritage has existed since 1960, but its modern annuity offerings started just a few years ago.

Aquarian Holdings bought the company in 2018, which marked Investors Heritage’s push into the annuity space.

It began offering its current MYGA that same year and introduced its current fixed index products in 2021.

While Investors Heritage has claimed a far from insignificant chunk of the annuity market, breaking $500 million in direct premiums sold in 2022, its financial strength remains behind that of many of its larger competitors.

Credit Ratings

Credit ratings for annuity providers can help determine a company’s financial strength and stability — an indication that it will be around to guarantee payments to you in the future. Different rating companies use different scales.

Investors Heritage’s Credit Ratings

Rating Company	Credit Rating
AM Best	B++
Fitch	BBB-
S&P	Not Rated

What Customers Are Saying About Investors Heritage

Customer experiences with Investors Heritage are not readily available, so it is tough to determine how well they fare in this area.

J.D. Power ranks the customer experience of annuity providers each year with its Overall Customer Satisfaction Index Ranking, but Investors Heritage is absent from both the 2022 and 2023 additions of the study.

The company’s NAIC Complaint Index Score does signal there are no major complaints, which is a positive.

One area that may hurt Investors Heritage is its financial strength rating. A score of B++ is not bad, or even a major concern, but it falls behind many other annuity providers. Customers who place high value on financial security may see this as a downside. 

One agent that Annuity.org spoke with also said that he rarely works with providers who have a rating outside of the A’s.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) tracks the consumer complaints that each state’s insurance commission receives each year. These are used to compile a company’s NAIC Complaint Index.NAIC Complaint IndexDetermined by dividing the company’s share of complaints in the U.S. market by the company’s share of premiums in the U.S. market. The National Complaint Index is always 1.00, so a score of 2.00, for example, is twice as high as expected in the market.

NAIC Complaint Index for Investors Heritage

All Policy Types	0
Individual Annuities Only	0

Investors Heritage Pros & Cons

Pros

• Products: The biggest benefit to opting for an annuity from Investors Heritage is its fixed index offerings. This is where the company is strongest, and its products offer enough diversity and perks for you to have a solid chance to find what you are looking for.

Cons

• Emergency access to your funds: Investors Heritage offers nursing home waivers that allow you to access your money if you are confined to a nursing home, but only 50% of the contract becomes available. Most of the industry offers full access in these situations. Some competitors also offer waivers for things like terminal illness or home health care needs, and Investors Heritage does not.
• Low financial strength rating: The company’s financial strength rating may put off some customers since many competitors have achieved higher ratings.

Provider Rating Methodology

Annuity.org created a fact-based methodology to analyze the strength, security and reach of different annuity providers. We assessed companies based on their availability, the amount of direct premiums sold, their AM Best Financial Strength Rating and their NAIC Complaint Index score.

Providers received a rating on a five-star scale for each of these categories, with the complaint index and financial strength ratings weighed as the heaviest variables. Then, using a weighted average, each company was assigned an overall star rating.

Annuity.org’s Top-Ranked Providers

Provider	Annuity.org Star Rating
Mass Mutual
New York Life
Pacific Life
Midland National
North American
Western & Southern

Our Rating Panel

The Annuity.org editorial team spoke with several different annuity experts to learn more about what is important to customers when searching for a provider and what factors make a company reliable. While Annuity.org designed the methodology, these experts provided feedback during the process and consulted on what factors we should leverage to best help prospective buyers compare providers.