Indexed Annuities

Indexed annuities compared. We provide indexed annuities rates and quotes from over 40 different insurance companies.

Indexed annuities are unlike any product in the marketplace. By legal definition they are a fixed annuity product, but with greater potential returns than those provided with guaranteed rate annuities. Indexed annuities allow you to benefit from potential gains when the stock market is up, but also prevent you from being penalized when it’s down. Unlike a variable annuity or mutual fund, the risk of losing your money due to a market decline does not exist with indexed annuities. So even if the stock market were to go down in value, your annuity contract value can never decline. In addition, like all fixed annuities, you’re protected by a lifetime guaranteed minimum interest rate. 

If you would like to research and compare actual indexed annuities product offerings from a number of top-rated insurance companies, please visit our Indexed Annuities Data page.

As stated above, Indexed Annuities offer the potential of higher returns without exposing principal to market risk. In exchange for this guarantee of no downside risk, Indexed Annuities policyholders must generally be willing to give up some of their upside market potential. This is what makes these newer annuity products so attractive to retired persons and to those approaching retirement. In exchange for having their retirement assets fully protected from loss (and in fact, guaranteed a minimum interest rate), indexed annuities owners share in market gains without realizing 100% of the gain. For most individual investors who have recently been stung by market volatility, this constitutes a prudent and desirable trade-off.

All of this is usually accomplished by linking (indexing) the credited interest rate to an equity index, such as the S&P 500 Composite Stock Index. To repeat: although the credited rate is linked to stock market performance, safety of principal is assured. A decline in the stock-market will NOT reduce the account value of indexed annuities.