Athene Agility 10 review

Yes, for the right buyer. This is a strong annuity for someone who wants a multi-purpose contract that handles accumulation, income, and death benefit planning without layering on separate rider fees. It is less appealing for someone who wants the highest possible crediting rates for pure growth, needs a shorter surrender period, or is uncomfortable with a market value adjustment.

The main reason to buy Athene Agility 10 is the all-in-one design. Instead of buying a separate accumulation annuity and worrying about income later, this product builds the income and death benefit features directly into the contract at no explicit cost. The 50% benefit base bonus means your income calculation starts from a higher base on day one, and the 200% interest credit multiplier means every dollar of index-linked interest credited to your accumulation value gets doubled on the benefit base side. In practice, this is the kind of annuity someone buys when they are 10-15 years from retirement, want their money working toward growth now, and want the option to turn on guaranteed income later without having to buy a new product.

I think Athene Agility 10 is best for someone in their late 40s to mid-60s who has a clear 10-year-plus time horizon and wants a single contract that covers multiple retirement planning needs. It is particularly well-suited for someone who values the simplicity of a built-in rider over the flexibility of choosing optional riders, and who plans to eventually use the lifetime income feature. It is less attractive for someone who is primarily focused on maximizing accumulation, needs liquidity within the first several years, or is uncomfortable with the idea that the rider benefits are priced into lower crediting rates rather than shown as an explicit fee.

You are buying a fixed indexed annuity that bundles three things into one contract: index-linked accumulation potential with principal protection, a lifetime income benefit with a 50% bonus and 200% interest credit multiplier, and an enhanced death benefit. You are not investing in the stock market directly. Your principal is protected from market losses, and your upside is linked to index performance subject to caps and participation rates. The real value proposition is the combination of features with no explicit rider fee — but the tradeoff is that the crediting rates are lower than what a pure accumulation product would offer, because Athene is pricing those benefits into the product structure.

The built-in income rider starts with a benefit base equal to your premium plus a 50% bonus. So a $100,000 premium creates a starting benefit base of $150,000. From there, every time your accumulation value earns index-linked interest, the benefit base gets credited at 200% of that interest amount. This means the income benefit base can grow significantly faster than the actual account value over time.

Lifetime income becomes available at age 50 or older, but only after a 10-year waiting period from the contract issue date. The income amount is based on the benefit base multiplied by an age-based payout percentage. There is also an Earnings-Indexed Income option that can adjust income payments based on ongoing index performance. The Enhanced Income Benefit doubles the income payout if the owner becomes confined to a care facility or cannot perform certain activities of daily living, which adds a meaningful layer of protection without a separate long-term care rider.

The Enhanced Death Benefit is a genuine differentiator. Unlike a standard death benefit that simply pays the accumulation value, this feature can pay out a higher amount based on the benefit base calculation. The death benefit is paid over five years (up to a maximum of ten), which means it is not a lump sum — but it can still provide meaningfully more to beneficiaries than the account value alone.

This matters because many hybrid FIAs offer either a strong income feature or a strong death benefit feature, but rarely both in the same built-in package. For someone who wants their annuity to serve double duty as both a retirement income tool and a legacy planning vehicle, the combination of the income rider and enhanced death benefit in one no-fee package is genuinely useful.

Athene Agility 10 allows free withdrawals of up to 10% of accumulation value or 10% of initial premium per year. Amounts above that are subject to the surrender schedule of **9% / 9% / 8% / 7% / 6% / 5% / 4% / 3% / 2% / 1% / 0%** (California has a different schedule). A market value adjustment also applies to excess withdrawals during the surrender charge period.

The 10-year surrender period is the main liquidity concern. The first two years carry a 9% charge, and the MVA can add additional cost on top of that. The bailout provision offers some protection — if the S&P 500 annual point-to-point cap drops below 0.50%, you can surrender without charges. Confinement and terminal illness waivers provide additional access in qualifying situations (not available in all states). Even with the free withdrawal provision and waivers, this is a long-term commitment and should not be treated as a liquid account.

There are no explicit annual fees, no rider fees, and no separate charges for the income or death benefit features. That is one of the product's genuine strengths — everything is built in.

The less obvious tradeoff is that the cost of those built-in benefits is reflected in lower crediting rates. The S&P 500 annual point-to-point cap of 5.25% is noticeably lower than what you would find on a pure accumulation FIA from a comparable carrier. The fixed account rate of 2.90% is also modest. The volatility-controlled index options offer higher participation rates, but those indices have embedded costs that can affect real-world performance. The MVA adds another layer of risk on early withdrawals. Buyers should understand that the "no fee" structure does not mean the benefits are free — the cost is just embedded differently.

Athene Agility 10 is issued by Athene Annuity and Life Company, headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, and founded in 1909. Athene is a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management and holds $363.3 billion in total GAAP assets. The company carries ratings of A+ from A.M. Best, A+ from Fitch, A+ from S&P, and A1 from Moody's, with a Comdex score of 88. Athene is one of the largest fixed annuity issuers in the United States and issues products in 49 states (excluding New York) and the District of Columbia.