Confidence Builder review

Yes, for the right buyer. This is a good annuity for someone who wants index-linked growth potential beyond what a capped fixed indexed annuity typically offers and is comfortable taking on partial market risk through a buffer. It is less appealing for someone who wants full principal protection, guaranteed lifetime income, or a contract simple enough to understand without studying how buffers and the various crediting methods interact.

The main reason to buy Confidence Builder is accumulation with higher upside potential than a fully protected annuity allows. The buffer is the tradeoff that makes that upside possible: by absorbing the first slice of any decline, the insurer can offer caps and participation terms more generous than a fixed indexed annuity's. In practical terms, this is the kind of contract someone buys when they want more growth than a fixed annuity, less risk than holding the index directly, and the flexibility to choose how the math is structured.

I think Confidence Builder is best for someone in the accumulation phase who has long-term money, understands that a buffer protects against moderate losses but not severe ones, and wants a broad set of crediting strategies to work with. The 6-year surrender makes it easier to consider than longer RILAs. It is less attractive for a conservative buyer who cannot tolerate any principal loss, for someone whose main goal is guaranteed lifetime income, or for anyone who wants a contract they do not have to think hard about. Both qualified and non-qualified money can fund it, with issue ages reaching 80.

You are not buying principal protection, and you are not buying direct ownership of the market. You are buying a structured insurance contract that links your return to an index while putting a buffer between you and the first portion of any loss. If you choose a 20% buffer and the index falls 15%, you lose nothing. If it falls 30%, the insurer absorbs 20 points and you take the remaining 10. On the upside, your gains are shaped by caps or participation rates rather than the index's full move. The real value here is that middle ground between a fixed annuity and the open market, not unlimited growth.

Confidence Builder offers five crediting methods you can mix across eight indices, including the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, Russell 2000, MSCI EAFE, three BofA managed-allocation indices, and a Hindsight 20/20 option. The methods cover an annual point-to-point with a buffer, an annual point-to-point with a cap, a term-end-point option over three or six years, an annual lock with a cap on the six-year term, and a performance-triggered strategy that credits a declared rate whenever the index change is zero or positive. The annual lock strategies compound each year, locking in gains along the way.

The buffer is the heart of the design. You choose a 10% or 20% buffer per strategy, and the insurer absorbs declines up to that level before any loss reaches you. The brochure quotes participation at 100% but lists caps only as a wide variable range from roughly 14.25% up to 500% depending on the index, term, and buffer chosen, with rates effective April 1, 2026. Those caps are the single most important number in any RILA, so if you are shopping this, get the current rate sheet for the specific strategies you are considering before committing.

The most meaningful secondary feature is the death benefit, which pays the greater of the account value or a return of your premium, adjusted for prior withdrawals. That matters in a buffer product more than it would in a fixed annuity. Because Confidence Builder can lose value during a downturn, a plain account-value death benefit could leave heirs with less than you put in. The return-of-premium floor protects against that specific risk, so a beneficiary is not penalized if you happen to pass away in a bad market year. It runs until the contract reaches maturity.

This annuity is built for long-term dollars, not short-term cash. In the first year you can withdraw up to 10% of premiums paid; in later years the free amount is 10% of the prior anniversary's account value, and you must leave at least $500 in the contract. Withdrawals above the free amount during the surrender period are subject to the charges in the schedule below, and a market value adjustment may also apply. An MVA, or Market Value Adjustment, means your surrender penalty can move up or down with interest rates at the time you withdraw, which adds an extra layer of unpredictability to early exits.

Confidence Builder also includes a Qualified Health Care Expense Waiver. It can waive surrender charges for nursing-home confinement, terminal illness, or the inability to perform two of six activities of daily living, provided the diagnosis occurs after the issue date and the request comes at least a year after issue. The available materials do not state how required minimum distributions interact with the surrender charges or MVA, so confirm RMD treatment with the carrier if you plan to hold this in qualified money.

The available materials do not disclose an explicit base contract fee or a separate rider fee, which is typical for a buffer RILA where the cost is built into the caps and participation rates rather than charged as a line item. That is the trade to understand: instead of paying a stated annual fee, you pay through a cap that limits your upside, and the insurer funds the buffer with the gains it keeps above that cap.

The less obvious tradeoffs are structural. The buffer protects against moderate declines but not severe ones, so a market drop deeper than your buffer still costs you principal. Caps and participation rates can change at each term, and the current materials quote them only as a broad range. Larger withdrawals can trigger both surrender charges and an MVA. And the minimum guaranteed surrender value was not specified in the available materials, which is worth asking about directly since it sets the floor on what you would receive in a worst-case surrender.

Legal Entity: Fidelity and Guaranty Life Insurance Company

Parent: FGL Holdings

A.M. Best Rating: A