Power Select Plus Income (Multiplier Flex) review

It depends on how much certainty you need from an income annuity. For a buyer who expects their index strategies to earn interest over a multi-year deferral and wants that interest amplified toward future income, this is a good, competitive contract from a strong carrier. For a buyer who is choosing an income annuity precisely because they want a guaranteed, know-it-in-advance income base, the absence of a stated roll-up makes this a poor match — and the plain-Flex version of the same product is the better tool for that job.

The rational reason to choose this specific version is leverage on interest you believe you'll actually earn. If your index strategies credit 5% in a year before income starts, the benefit base gets 10% that year — double the underlying interest. Over a strong stretch of markets that can build a larger income base than a modest fixed roll-up would. The built-in confinement doubler adds a second reason: at no extra cost, it can sharply increase your income if you end up needing extended care, which is exactly when many retirees need more cash flow.

I think this is best for someone roughly 55 to 70, several years from turning income on, using long-term qualified or non-qualified money they won't need for liquidity, and comfortable with the idea that their future income rides partly on index performance during deferral. It fits a buyer who understands the difference between a multiplier and a guaranteed roll-up and deliberately wants the former. It is a poor fit for someone who wants the simplest possible income guarantee, needs income soon, or would be unsettled watching their benefit base stall through a flat market.

You are not buying market upside on your money, and you are not buying a guaranteed income-growth schedule. You're buying a principal-protected FIA wrapped around a lifetime income rider whose benefit base grows by amplifying — not guaranteeing — your interest credits. The heart of the contract is that multiplier. Premium builds a benefit base; each year the base is credited 200% of the fixed and indexed interest the contract earns (before you start income); and your age when you activate sets the withdrawal percentage applied to whatever that base has become. Strip the brochure language away and it's a leveraged, performance-contingent income builder, not a promised one.

The Lifetime Income Plus Multiplier Flex rider is built in and tracks two values: your account value (the real cash) and a separate benefit base (a bookkeeping figure used only to calculate income). Before you turn income on, each contract year the benefit base receives a "Multiplier" credit equal to 200% of the fixed and indexed interest the contract earned that year. So a year that credits 4% interest adds roughly 8% to the benefit base; a year that credits nothing adds nothing. Once you start taking income, the multiplier drops to 100% — one times interest earned. The credit keeps running until the earliest of age 95, the account value reaching zero, or the rider ending. There's also an automatic step-up: any year the account value rises above the benefit base, the base locks in to that higher figure.

The critical point — and the whole reason this version exists as a separate product — is that there is no stated roll-up rate. Most income annuities grow the benefit base by a guaranteed percentage every year (say 7% or 10%) whether or not the index does anything. This rider removes that promise and substitutes leverage on real interest. That's the difference from the plain Lifetime Income Plus Flex GLWB, reviewed separately: the plain Flex grows the benefit base on a guaranteed schedule regardless of index performance, while this Multiplier Flex grows it only when interest is credited, but at double the rate. Plain Flex is the predictable income builder; Multiplier Flex is the higher-ceiling, no-floor version. If markets cooperate during your deferral, Multiplier Flex can pull ahead; if they don't, the guaranteed roll-up on the plain version wins.

The standout secondary feature is the Enhanced Income Benefit, a confinement rider that's automatically included at no charge. If you've held the income rider at least two years, weren't confined at issue, and are later confined to a qualified care facility for 90 or more days, your Guaranteed Withdrawal Payment percentage increases by 200% for a single life or 150% for a joint case, for up to five years. In plain terms, it can roughly double (or more) your income during exactly the stretch when care costs spike. It isn't long-term-care insurance and the conditions are specific, but as a free, built-in benefit it's a meaningful part of the value here and one of the stronger reasons to prefer this contract over a bare income FIA.

This is long-term money. Withdrawal charges run a full 10 years, starting at 9% and declining as shown below, and a market value adjustment applies on top — MVA means a larger withdrawal's penalty can move up or down with interest rates since the contract was issued, adding uncertainty to any early exit. In year one you can take up to 10% of premium without a charge; after that, the free amount is the greater of 10% of the prior anniversary's account value or, once income is activated, the rider's Maximum Annual Withdrawal Amount. Required minimum distributions get relief — they don't trigger withdrawal charges or MVA, though RMDs do count against both the free-withdrawal amount and the rider's Maximum Annual Withdrawal Amount. Even with that relief, nothing about a 10-year schedule makes this a place for money you might need early. Note that some approved states use a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 schedule that starts one point higher in year one.

The visible cost is the rider fee: 1.10% currently, with a 2.00% contractual maximum, charged annually against the benefit base. That base is important — because the multiplier inflates the benefit base faster than the account value in strong years, the dollar fee is calculated on the larger number and can climb even as the fee rate holds steady. On the crediting side, several strategies carry spreads that reduce credited interest (for example, the AB All Market and Dimensional US Foundations point-to-point options apply a spread before crediting), and the biennial strategies use higher spreads in exchange for higher participation. The current caps, participation rates, and spreads are point-in-time figures from the rate sheet and will change — treat the specific percentages as low-confidence and ask for the current rate sheet before committing. The core tradeoff is unavoidable: you're paying 1.10% a year for an income rider whose growth engine is contingent on market performance, so the fee is a fixed cost against an uncertain benefit.

Legal Entity: American General Life Insurance Company

Parent: Corebridge Financial

A.M. Best Rating: A