MarketEarly Income Index review

Depends on what you want it to do. As an income vehicle it is a good annuity for someone who wants to lock in a lump sum today, let a benefit base grow for several years, and turn on protected lifetime income later. It is a weaker choice for someone who wants accumulation, needs liquidity above the free amount, or specifically wants a top-rated carrier. Judge it as an income tool, because that is what it is engineered to be.

The main reason to buy MarketEarly Income Index is to build future protected lifetime income while keeping principal shielded from market losses along the way. The income rider is included automatically, so you do not have to elect or shop for it, and the 20% benefit-base bonus gives the income calculation a meaningful head start on day one. The secondary reason is the built-in care feature: if you later cannot perform basic daily-living activities, your income can increase for up to five years at no additional charge. For a care-conscious buyer, that is a real reason to look here rather than at a bare-bones income annuity.

I think this annuity is best for someone in the pre-retirement or early-retirement window, roughly mid-50s to mid-70s, who has long-term money they will not need for at least a decade and wants that money committed to future income rather than growth. It fits a buyer who values a built-in rider over one they have to elect, who likes the idea of a care doubler, and who is comfortable with a B++ carrier. It is less attractive for someone who wants accumulation upside, expects to need principal above the 10% free amount, or wants the highest-rated insurer they can find.

You are not really buying market upside here. You are buying a lifetime income framework wrapped around a principal-protected annuity. The heart of the contract is the Income Benefit Rider II and its Benefit Base, which is a separate accounting value used only to calculate income. Your first-year premium gets a 20% bonus added to that Benefit Base, the base then compounds at a set roll-up rate for up to ten years or until you start income, and your income for life is a percentage of whatever the Benefit Base has grown to. Importantly, the Benefit Base is not cash you can walk away with. It is a formula for income, and the accumulation side of the contract, the money you could actually surrender, moves separately and more slowly.

The Income Benefit Rider II is automatically included, so there is no separate election. At issue, your first-year premium is credited with a 20% bonus to the Benefit Base only, not to your Account Value. From there the Benefit Base compounds at 7.00% annually in years one through five, then 4.00% annually in years six through ten, up to a ten-year maximum roll-up window or until you turn income on, whichever comes first. When you elect income, your annual payout is a percentage of the Benefit Base tied to your age: roughly 5.10% single or 4.10% joint at age 50, rising by 0.10% per attained age to about 8.10% single or 7.10% joint at 80 and above. There is also a step-up: if your Account Value ever exceeds the Benefit Base at income start, and on later anniversaries, the Benefit Base steps up to match it. The tradeoff to understand is the roll-up decay. Seven percent for five years is competitive, but the drop to 4% afterward means the strongest growth happens early, which rewards buyers who start income at a well-chosen point rather than deferring indefinitely.

The most meaningful secondary feature is the built-in Enhanced Income Withdrawals benefit, an income doubler for care events. If you become permanently unable to perform two of six activities of daily living, or suffer permanent severe cognitive impairment, your income withdrawal amount increases 100% for a single owner or 50% for joint owners, for up to five years, with annual physician certification. What makes this notable is that it is embedded in the 1.25% rider fee you are already paying, with no separate election and no extra charge. Many contracts sell a care or chronic-illness enhancement as an add-on; here it comes with the income rider. For a buyer worried about long-term care costs, that bundled doubler is one of the more practical reasons to choose this contract over a plain income FIA.

This annuity is built for long-term retirement dollars, not short-term cash needs. After the first contract year you can withdraw up to 10% of the prior anniversary's Accumulation Value each year without a surrender charge or MVA, and in year one you can take systematic interest withdrawals from the 1-Year Interest Account. Anything above the free amount during the ten-year schedule is subject to a surrender charge that starts at 9% and declines to 0.5%, plus a market value adjustment (MVA), which means your surrender penalty can move up or down with interest rates. Required minimum distributions are not treated as excess withdrawals, which is helpful for qualified money. Two relief provisions add flexibility: after year one you can access up to 100% of Accumulation Value if confined to a nursing home for 90 consecutive days, and up to 75% in the event of terminal illness, both at no charge and subject to state terms. California contracts use a 9-year schedule and no MVA. Even with those provisions, this is not a contract to treat like emergency cash.

The headline cost is the income rider: 1.25% of Accumulation Value every year, deducted at each contract anniversary proportionately from your crediting accounts. That is slightly higher than some competing income riders, and because it is a mandatory built-in charge, you pay it whether or not you ultimately turn income on. In exchange you get the roll-up, the 20% benefit-base bonus, and the care doubler, so the fee is defensible if you actually use the income machinery, and dead weight if you end up treating this as an accumulation contract. The base contract itself carries no separate M&E, product, or administration fee. The other real tradeoff is structural rather than a line-item fee: the accumulation side is deliberately modest. The current S&P 500 cap is 5.00%, the performance-trigger credits 4.00% when the index is positive, and the fixed account pays 3.00%, with participation rates from 50% to 130% on the specialty indices. These rates are effective 7/1/2025 per the Wink summary and will change, but the point holds. Growth here is capped to fund the income guarantees, so do not buy this expecting strong accumulation.

Legal Entity: EquiTrust Life Insurance Company

A.M. Best Rating: B++

MarketEarly Income Index is issued by EquiTrust Life Insurance Company. EquiTrust is an established fixed and indexed annuity carrier, but its B++ A.M. Best rating sits below the A-range grades most shoppers compare against, which is a fair reason to weigh carrier strength against the product's income features when deciding.