The Best Fixed Index Annuities

Our Take

Lincoln’s OptiBlend provides a few distinct advantages over other fixed index annuities, like having no product fees other than the standard surrender charge. Additionally, OptiBlend owners can allocate their funds among nine interest crediting accounts, including a fixed account with a guaranteed minimum interest rate of 1.65%.

They can also earn interest in OptiBlend’s unique “trigger” accounts, which credit growth even when the linked index is flat or down as long as it doesn’t decline by more than the specified rate.

Our Take

The F&G Prosperity Elite is a fixed index annuity with plenty of opportunities to customize the contract. When you purchase this annuity, you can choose between two packages. 

The Enhancement package includes a vesting bonus and a lump sum death benefit and has a fee of 0.60% per year. The more inclusive Protection package costs 0.95% per year but comes with an enhanced vesting benefit, a lifetime income guarantee and an enhanced death benefit that allows beneficiaries to spread out the benefit in payments over time.

Besides choosing a guarantee package, OptiBlend customers can customize their annuity by selecting from 14 interest crediting options featuring five different indexes. The product also offers index option riders that may augment the interest crediting accounts with higher caps, higher participation rates or lower spread rates, though these riders cost 1.25% per year.

Our Take

Nationwide’s Summit is the simplest of the fixed index annuities we considered, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It charges no annual fees and has a seven-year surrender period.

The Summit annuity has no riders to customize the contract and only three interest crediting choices, making this annuity ideal for someone who might be intimidated by the myriad of choices most fixed index annuities require. 

Summit owners who make a purchase payment of $100,000 or more can earn even more interest on their contract value, thanks to the product’s two tiers of interest. For the fixed account, the second tier earns a higher guaranteed rate, while the indexed accounts have a higher rate cap based on the premium amount.

Our Take

If you’re interested in purchasing a fixed index annuity to generate guaranteed lifetime income, the Allianz Benefit Control is designed for you. This unique annuity has an accumulation value, which represents how much you would receive if you took the money out in a lump sum, and a protected income value, which determines the amount of your lifetime withdrawals.

Benefit Control offers a premium bonus that boosts that protected income value. Each premium payment during the first 18 months of the contract earns a 25% bonus credited to the contract’s protected income value.

Additionally, Benefit Control includes the Allianz Income Multiplier rider at no additional cost. This rider kicks in after the annuity’s fifth contract anniversary and allows the owner to double the annual maximum withdrawal amount if they have certain health conditions.

Our Take

MassMutual’s Premier Income Bonus is a fixed index annuity designed for both accumulation and guaranteed income. The annuity features a built-in income rider that creates an income stream starting with your purchase payments.

The rider’s benefit base increases with a 6% bonus credited to all purchase payments. And at the end of each year, the benefit base increases again by 6% of the purchase payments. This is called a rollup credit, and it’s credited to the contract for up to 10 years.

The Premier Income Bonus’s rider provides ample opportunity for accumulation, although it comes at a cost of 1.15% of the contract value each year. Besides the rider, owners can choose from eight interest crediting accounts to allocate their annuity’s funds into, including a fixed account and point-to-point accounts linked to indexes like the S&P 500, the S&P U.S. Retiree Spending Index and the iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF.