Today’s Best Protective Life Annuity Rates
| Term | Product | AM Best Rating | Rate |
| 5 Years | Smart Saver NY | A+ | 4.90% |
| 4 Years | Smart Saver NY | A+ | 4.75% |
| 5 Years | SecureSaver | A+ | 4.75% |
Protective Life
Our Take
For customers looking for the stability and comfort that comes with a major legacy provider, it’s hard to do better than Protective Life. The company, which has been operating since 1907, sells several annuity products to fit your needs.
Pros
- Strong products across multiple categories
- Old, stable and financially secure
Cons
- High NAIC Complaint Index score
Compare Protective Life Annuity Rates
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| Product | Rate | Guarantee Period | Surrender Period | AM Best Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Income Creator |
2.65% | 7 Years | 7 Years | A+ |
|
SecureSaver |
4.35% | 7 Years | 7 Years | A+ |
|
SecureSaver |
4.45% | 5 Years | 5 Years | A+ |
|
Smart Saver NY |
4.10% | 4 Years | 4 Years | A+ |
|
Smart Saver NY |
4.35% | 5 Years | 5 Years | A+ |
Additional Products Offered by Protective Life
Many annuity providers tend to focus on a few specific product types while offering multiple, customizable versions of those types. Protective Life takes a more diverse approach, selling numerous types of annuities.
This includes fixed annuities, fixed index annuities, RILAs and variable annuities.
Fixed Annuities
Protective Life offers two different fixed annuities. The first is the Protective Secure Saver, which allows customers more access to their money and the protection of their initial investment.
Rates of five or seven years are available, along with 3% interest rate bands. Additionally, terminal illness, nursing home and unemployment riders are attached to the contract. Rates on the Protective Secure Saver range from 4.75% to 5.85% depending on your contract value and the guarantee period you choose.
While nursing home and terminal illness waivers are generally industry standard, Protective Life is one of the few providers offering unemployment waivers.
Protective Life also offers the Protective Income Creator annuity, which provides a way for more conservative customers to build their eventual income.
This annuity is designed to create income for life, is available with a seven-year surrender period, and includes the same helpful riders as the Protective Secure Saver.
Fixed Index Annuities
Protective Life currently sells two indexed annuities. The first is known as the Protective Income Builder, which includes several easily customizable strategies and high flexibility that can make it an attractive product.
A 10% benefit base rollup can be included, and customers have the option to choose between the S&P 500 or the Citi Flexible Allocation 6 Excess Return Index. Guaranteed lifetime income benefits are also included.
Protective Life also advertises the Protective Asset Builder II, which stands out for its diverse options and customizability. You have multiple index options, along with five-, seven- or 10-year surrender periods.
The Protective Asset Builder II is essentially a more customizable version of the Protective Income Builder.
RILAs and Variable Annuities
In addition to its fixed and indexed annuities, Protective Life also offers one RILA and one variable product. The RILA is known as the Protective Market Defender II, and it includes a lot of built-in protection for customers.
Buffer and floor options are available, allowing you to experience growth without being exposed to market downturns. Customers have the option to select from different strategies to find the option that best fits their needs.
Protective Market Defender II Floor Strategies
- 0%
- -5%
- -10%
- -20%
The final product offered by Protective Life is the one that comes with the most risk: the Protective Aspirations variable annuity. It offers over 100 different investment options, along with two different income benefit choices.
While this product has the most risk, it also offers the most growth potential.
Buy an Annuity From Protective Life Today
About Protective Life
Founded in 1907, Protective Life is far from just an annuity provider. It is a giant in the insurance market, having offered its products for over 100 years and steadily growing during that span through acquisitions of other smaller companies.
While its focus is not only on annuities, the company has a strong presence in that space. It eclipsed $1.5 billion in direct annuity premiums sold in 2022.
Protective Life, which was acquired by Dai-ichi Life Insurance in 2015, has major financial backing and is a secure company.
It holds favorable financial strength ratings from virtually every independent rating organization.
Log into your provider account or connect with customer service at 1 (800) 866-9933.
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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.
Protective Life’s Credit Ratings
| Rating Company | Credit Rating |
| AM Best | A+ |
| Fitch | AA- |
| S&P | AA- |
See which annuity providers our independent editorial team ranked as the Best Annuity Companies of 2024.
What Customers Are Saying About Protective Life
Protective Life did not appear in either the 2022 or 2023 editions of the J.D. Power Overall Customer Satisfaction Index Ranking, which measures the satisfaction of annuity customers by provider.
J.D. Power also rates life insurance satisfaction, and Protective Life received a below-industry-average score in that category.
The company also holds a worrying NAIC Complaint Index Score, which measures the number of customer complaints against a company against its market presence.
Protective Life’s score of 3.87 implies that there are nearly four times as many complaints as expected given the company’s sales.
Part of the issue may be that Protective Life is not as annuity-focused as some competitors.
“Protective Life is in the annuity space, but it seems like, based on our reviews, that they’re more a really strong life insurance company,” Ryan Cicchelli, owner of The Safe Investing Expert, told Annuity.org.
“You could go to many other different annuity companies with something that stands out about them.”
Overall, there are some concerns surrounding Protective Life’s customer satisfaction that are worth keeping in mind when shopping for annuities.
Protective Life is in the annuity space, but it seems like based on our reviews, that they’re more a really strong life insurance company.
Ryan CicchelliOwner of The Safe Investing Expert
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 Protective Life
| All Policy Types | 0.19 |
| Individual Annuities Only | 3.87 |
Protective Life Pros & Cons
One of the biggest benefits associated with Protective Life is the strength of the company itself. Annuities are often a major purchase, and customers can naturally hold concerns about the stability and reputation of the company they are making that financial commitment to.
That doesn’t need to be a concern with Protective Life. It’s a major corporation that has been in operation for over 100 years, with several subsidiaries, major financial backing and high financial strength ratings across the board.
There’s little question of safety when working with Protective Life.
Another pro is the range of annuity products available. You may have a higher chance of finding the annuity that best fits your needs with Protective Life due to the many types of annuities represented in their offerings.
The one major drawback to Protective Life is customer satisfaction. The high NAIC Complaint Index Score is a concern and, while it isn’t directly tied to annuity sales, the company’s poor J.D. Power ranking for life insurance adds to that concern.
It is not uncommon for major companies to see overall lower customer satisfaction due to their size, but it is something for potential customers to consider.
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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 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.
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