ForeIncome II 7-Year with Guaranteed Income Builder (Wells Fargo) review

It depends on your situation. The product mechanics are solid — the built-in GLWB, the 10% annual roll-up, the chronic illness benefit, and the seven-year surrender are the same as the open-market version, and those are real strengths for an income-focused buyer. What this version adds is a distribution restriction: you can only access it through Wells Fargo advisors. That is not a product flaw, but it is a meaningful constraint. Buyers already working with a Wells Fargo advisor who like the income guarantee design will find this a reasonable fit. Buyers who are not in the Wells Fargo ecosystem should compare this against the open-market ForeIncome II 7-Year GIB and other income FIAs before committing — the mechanics are equivalent, but the open-market version removes the channel friction.

The main reason is the same as the base product: protected lifetime income with a shorter surrender commitment than most income products require and a guaranteed 10% annual roll-up while you wait. The reason someone buys specifically this version rather than the open-market GIB is that they are a Wells Fargo client and their advisor is presenting it — that is a common and legitimate purchase path. If the product terms work for your income timeline, the distribution channel does not change the underlying economics. The built-in chronic illness enhancement at no extra charge also adds a practical care-cost layer for buyers planning a decade or more into retirement.

I think this annuity is best for someone in the pre-retirement or early-retirement window — roughly their 50s to mid-60s — who works with a Wells Fargo advisor, wants to build future lifetime income with principal protection, and values a seven-year surrender window that is shorter than the 10-year commitment most income FIAs require. Lifetime income can start as early as age 55. It is a weaker fit for someone who wants the strongest possible accumulation terms, needs regular access to more than the annual free-withdrawal amount, or is not in the Wells Fargo distribution channel and would need to restructure their advisor relationship to access it.

You are not buying stock-market upside, and you are not buying a 10% return on your cash. You are buying a lifetime income framework wrapped around a principal-protected annuity, available exclusively through Wells Fargo. The contract tracks two separate numbers: your actual account value — the real cash, which grows based on index crediting and is what you can withdraw or pass to heirs — and a separate withdrawal base, which is a bookkeeping figure that grows by 10% each year while you defer and governs only the lifetime income calculation. When you activate income, your age and the withdrawal base together determine a guaranteed annual payment for life, even if the account value eventually runs to zero. The Wells Fargo channel affects distribution, not product structure — the mechanics are identical to the open-market version.

The Guaranteed Income Builder Benefit — the built-in Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit — is the heart of this product. At issue, the rider establishes a withdrawal base tied to eligible premium. Each contract year before income activation, the rider credits a guaranteed 10% roll-up to that base, for up to 15 years or until you activate income, whichever comes first. That roll-up is not tied to index performance; it accrues regardless of what the crediting strategies return. The fee is 1.20% of the withdrawal base annually, deducted from account value. As the base grows by 10% each year of deferral, the dollar cost of the fee climbs proportionally. At activation, a guaranteed payout percentage based on your age is applied to the withdrawal base, and that amount continues for life — even if the account value is fully depleted. The withdrawal base is not accessible as a lump sum; it governs the income calculation only.

The most meaningful secondary feature is the Income Enhancement Benefit — a chronic illness provision included at no additional cost per the brochure. If you become unable to perform certain activities of daily living, this benefit can increase your income payments for a period, effectively adding a care-cost layer on top of the retirement income the contract already provides. Because it carries no separate charge, it improves the net value of the 1.20% rider fee for buyers who see both income and care risk as problems to solve. The contract also includes nursing care and terminal illness waivers, allowing penalty-free access to funds under qualifying conditions. Additionally, the crediting menu spans four major indices — S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, Russell 2000, and EURO STOXX 50 — with multiple strategy types, giving the account value side some flexibility even in an income-first design. Current cap, participation, and spread terms were medium-to-low confidence in the available materials; ask for the current Wells Fargo rate sheet before committing, as FIA crediting terms change with the interest rate environment.

This annuity is built for long-term retirement dollars, not short-term cash needs. During the seven-year surrender period, you can withdraw up to 10% of beginning-of-year contract value each year without penalty. Amounts above that are subject to a withdrawal charge that starts at 8% and steps down through the schedule below, plus a market value adjustment — an MVA is an interest-rate-driven swing that can increase or decrease your effective surrender penalty. After year seven, withdrawals are unlimited with no charges. The contract is RMD-friendly, and nursing care and terminal illness waivers can provide penalty-free access under qualifying circumstances. Even with those provisions, this is a long-term commitment: the income rider's roll-up runs up to 15 years, and the product is designed for buyers who are comfortable leaving the money in place.

The headline cost is the rider fee: 1.20% per year charged on the withdrawal base. That is on the higher end for built-in income FIAs, and because the base grows by a guaranteed 10% each year of deferral, the dollar amount of the fee compounds upward alongside the base. The contract carries no base contract fee, so the 1.20% is the primary explicit cost. On the crediting side, the contract is designed to support income guarantees first — not to maximize account-value accumulation — so index crediting terms are typically modest relative to a pure accumulation FIA. Current cap, participation, and spread figures were not confirmed at specific levels in the available brochure materials, which is consistent with the medium-to-low confidence flags in the spec; ask for the Wells Fargo-specific rate sheet before committing. There is no account-value premium bonus; the 10% bonus language in income FIA marketing refers to the benefit base, not cash you can walk away with.

Legal Entity: Forethought Life Insurance Company

Parent: Global Atlantic Financial Group

A.M. Best Rating: A