Athene Aviator 10 review

Yes, for someone who is committed to a 10-year timeline and wants the highest crediting rates in the Aviator family. It is less appealing for someone who is uncertain about the timeline, wants an income rider, or would rather take slightly lower rates in exchange for a shorter commitment.

The main reason to buy Aviator 10 is to maximize crediting rates within Athene's accumulation FIA lineup. The secondary reason is the same structural advantages as the shorter Aviator products — no MVA, a bailout provision, rate lock strategies, and strategy presets. In practice, this is the annuity someone buys when they have a clear 10-year horizon, want principal protection with the best available rates, and do not need income guarantees or frequent access to their money.

I think Aviator 10 is best for someone in their early to mid-50s who has a clear decade-long time horizon and wants to maximize accumulation potential within a principal-protected structure. It could also work for someone in their 40s who is building retirement savings and wants a conservative growth vehicle. It is less suited for someone in their late 60s or 70s who may need access to the money sooner, someone who wants income guarantees, or someone who is not confident they can leave the money alone for 10 years.

You are buying a principal-protected insurance contract that credits interest based on the performance of selected market indices. Your money is not in the stock market. The real value here is the higher crediting rates that come with the longer commitment — Athene is essentially giving you better terms in exchange for your willingness to keep the money in the contract longer. Whether that tradeoff is worth it depends entirely on your timeline and your confidence in it.

Aviator 10 offers the same crediting strategy menu as the shorter Aviator products, but with higher rates across the board. The S&P 500 cap sits at 9.50–10.00%, the BNP MAD 5 participation rate is 210–220%, and the fixed account pays 4.80–5.05%. You can choose from cap strategies, participation rate strategies, trigger strategies, rate lock strategies, and a fixed account.

The strategy presets — Conservative, Balanced, and Growth — automatically allocate your premium across a diversified mix of strategies. The rate lock strategies guarantee your cap or trigger rate for the entire 10-year withdrawal charge period. A cap lock of 8.00–8.25% guaranteed for a decade is a meaningful feature — you know exactly what your upside ceiling is for the life of the contract, regardless of what happens to interest rates or the carrier's pricing.

The rate lock strategies matter more in a 10-year product than in a 5-year product because there is more time for rates to change. Over a decade, interest rates could rise or fall significantly, and the carrier could adjust non-locked crediting terms at each annual renewal. Locking in a cap of 8.00–8.25% or a trigger rate of 6.00–6.25% for the full 10 years provides certainty that is genuinely valuable over that time horizon.

The strategy presets also matter more here because the longer commitment means your allocation decisions have more time to compound. Choosing the wrong mix of strategies in a 5-year product is a smaller mistake than choosing the wrong mix in a 10-year product. The presets reduce that risk by providing professionally designed allocation models.

You can withdraw up to 10% of contract value each year without charges. Amounts above that are subject to the surrender schedule of **9% / 9% / 8% / 7% / 6% / 5% / 4% / 3% / 2% / 1% / 0%**. There is no market value adjustment.

The bailout provision provides a safety valve — if the S&P 500 cap rate drops below 4.00% at renewal, you can withdraw your full contract value without surrender charges. The confinement and terminal illness waivers (not available in California) provide additional access in qualifying situations.

The surrender schedule is long but declines gradually. The 9% charge in years one and two is steep, but by year six it has dropped to 5%, and it continues declining by 1% per year after that. The gradual decline is more buyer-friendly than schedules that stay flat for several years before dropping.

There are no explicit annual fees on the base contract. The costs are structural: caps limit upside, participation rates capture only a portion of index gains, and the fixed account rate, while competitive, will not match what index strategies can deliver in strong market years.

The main tradeoff is the 10-year commitment itself. For a pure accumulation product with no income rider, 10 years is a long time. A lot can change in a decade — your financial needs, your health, interest rates, the competitive landscape. The rate premium over the 5-year Aviator is roughly 0.25–0.50% across most strategies. That is meaningful over 10 years in absolute dollar terms, but it is not a dramatic difference. The $25,000 minimum premium is also higher than many competing products.

Aviator 10 is issued by Athene Annuity and Life Company, headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa. Athene 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. Founded in 1909, Athene is a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management and manages $363.3 billion in total GAAP assets. The company issues annuities in 49 states (excluding New York) and the District of Columbia. Athene's financial strength ratings are among the highest of any annuity carrier in the United States.