ForeIncome II 10-Year with Income Multiplier review

Yes, for the right buyer. This is a good annuity for someone who wants protected lifetime income, is comfortable deferring withdrawals for several years, and likes the idea of a built-in income boost tied to a care event. It is less appealing for someone who wants a fixed, fully predictable income roll-up, needs liquidity in the next few years, or is mainly shopping for accumulation.

The main reason to buy ForeIncome II is to build future protected lifetime income while keeping principal shielded from market losses along the way. The secondary reason is the Income Multiplier: it offers a way to plan for higher income during a period of poor health without underwriting a standalone long-term care policy. For a buyer in their late 50s to early 70s who expects to turn income on in several years, that combination addresses two retirement worries — running out of money, and the cost of needing care — inside one contract.

I think this annuity is best for someone in the pre-retirement or early-retirement window, roughly age 55 to 75, who is using long-term money to create a future paycheck and expects to defer income for a meaningful stretch. It fits a buyer who values a built-in rider over relying on annuitization later, and who sees the chronic-illness multiplier as real planning value rather than a gimmick. It is less attractive for someone who wants the strongest accumulation terms, needs frequent access to principal above the free amount, or wants the certainty of a flat guaranteed roll-up percentage they can calculate in advance.

You are not really buying stock market upside. You are buying a lifetime income framework wrapped around a principal-protected annuity, with a care-event enhancement bolted on. The heart of the contract is the rider. Your premium builds a Withdrawal Base, that base grows before you activate income, and your age at activation sets the percentage you can take for life. The index strategies matter, but mostly as the engine that drives the interest credits that, in turn, feed the income growth. In plain terms, the index account is the fuel; the rider is the machine you actually bought.

ForeIncome II includes a Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit built into the contract — you do not elect it separately. Before you activate income, the Withdrawal Base grows by **3x the interest credits** earned by your allocated strategies; after you turn income on, it grows by 1x the interest credits. This is the detail that deserves the most attention. A "3x credits" roll-up is not the same as a fixed guaranteed roll-up. If your index strategies earn 4% in a year, the base grows by roughly 12%; if they earn nothing, the base does not grow that year. So the eventual size of your lifetime income is partly performance-dependent, which is a real distinction from income annuities that promise a flat percentage regardless of index results.

When you activate, the rider pays a guaranteed percentage of the Withdrawal Base for life, based on your age. Those withdrawals continue even if the underlying contract value is eventually depleted — that is the lifetime guarantee you are paying the rider fee for. The interest-credit caps and participation rates that drive the roll-up vary by index and crediting method; the brochure indicates caps around 20% on most indices and a current fixed-account rate of 3.25%, but specific current caps and participation rates were not fully disclosed in the available materials. If you are shopping this, ask for the current rate sheet directly.

The most meaningful secondary feature is the Income Multiplier Benefit, delivered through the contract's Income Enhancement Benefit (also called the Annual Payment Accelerator Rider). It allows your lifetime income to increase — in many designs of this type, roughly doubling for a limited period — if you become unable to perform a defined number of activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, or eating. That turns a standard income annuity into something closer to a hybrid income-and-care product, without a separate long-term care policy or its underwriting.

There is a tradeoff worth naming. Care-enhancement features almost always carry qualifying conditions: a waiting period, a maximum number of years the enhanced payment continues, and a requirement that you no longer have contract value or are within the rider's defined window. The exact triggers and duration limits are governed by the rider and vary by state — and the Lifestyle Payment Option is not available in California at all. Treat the multiplier as a meaningful planning feature, not an open-ended care benefit, and read the specific qualifying terms before counting on it.

This annuity is built for long-term retirement dollars, not short-term cash. Each year you can withdraw up to **10% of the beginning-of-year Contract Value** without a charge; in the first year, you can take up to 10% of premiums paid. Anything above that free amount during the first ten years triggers a withdrawal charge that starts at 9% and steps down to 1% in year ten, and a Market Value Adjustment (MVA) — an adjustment that moves your surrender value up or down with interest rates — can also apply to those excess withdrawals during the charge period.

There are some genuine relief features. A Nursing Care Waiver can waive withdrawal charges and the MVA if you are confined to a nursing facility for 90 or more consecutive days, and a Terminal Illness Waiver can do the same after the first contract anniversary if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness. Both are subject to contract and state terms. Even with those provisions, this is a ten-year commitment, and you should not treat it like emergency cash.

The main cost is the rider: **1.05% annually of the Withdrawal Base**, charged against your contract value. That is competitive for a built-in lifetime income rider — slightly below the 1.10% you see on some comparable income FIAs — and it buys you both the guaranteed lifetime payout and the Income Multiplier. Whether that fee is worth it depends entirely on whether you actually turn income on; if you surrender early for cash, you will have paid the rider charge for a benefit you never used.

Beyond the explicit fee, the tradeoffs are structural. Your upside is limited by caps and participation rates, the income roll-up depends on interest credits rather than a fixed guarantee, and the MVA can affect larger withdrawals during the surrender period. None of these are hidden costs so much as the price of the protection and income guarantees you are buying.

Legal Entity: Forethought Life Insurance Company

Parent: Global Atlantic Financial Group

A.M. Best Rating: A

ForeIncome II is issued by Forethought Life Insurance Company, part of Global Atlantic Financial Group. The A.M. Best "A" (Excellent) rating reflects an established carrier, which matters more than usual here because the rider's lifetime payments depend on the issuer's long-term ability to pay.